Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  Andromeda Galaxy  ·  M 110  ·  M 31  ·  M 32  ·  NGC 205  ·  NGC 221  ·  NGC 224
M31 with a barn door mount, Dan Phillips
M31 with a barn door mount
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M31 with a barn door mount

M31 with a barn door mount, Dan Phillips
M31 with a barn door mount
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M31 with a barn door mount

Equipment

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Description

First deep sky target with the new EOS M and my rebuilt motorized barn door mount, with the ST80. It still has 20 arcsec periodic error but is hopefully less prone to mechanical breakdown. Periodic error limits the ST80 to 15 second exposures for a good hit rate (I used 70% of the exposures here but downsized by a factor of 2).

Normally I'd use ISO 1600 but with 15 sec exposures I chose 6400 to bring the histogram peak away from the left under the reasonably dark skies I drove to. (an advantage of the EOS-M over the XT). Of course Magic Lantern is pretty much necessary for controlling the EOS-M exposures since I can't use my remote release or computer control, but it works well enough.

With a shorter lens (50mm or less) I should be able to take many-minute exposures as my drift polar alignment procedure seems pretty good.

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M31 with a barn door mount, Dan Phillips