Here is another image of the Andromeda Galaxy. Other excellent versions have been shown recently by Ryan and Aaron. In this one, I’m using my 80 mm Asker Extra-low Dispersion (ED) refraction scope that I won at OkieTex last year. The final image has about 2.8 hours of integration time.
I setup the scope using the 0.7 Reducer (392 mm focal length) on the morning of July 11th, 2026 and took 375 images of Andromeda between 2:00 and 4:30 am from my light polluted backyard in Oklahoma City. Each image from my ZWO 183 camera had a 20-second exposure and a gain value of 100. The collection was repeated on the 14th and 15th of July. The camera was held at 5 degrees C and I was using an Optolong L-Pro light pollution filter. I selected 497 images of the 1000 shots and stacked them using in PixInSight and Adobe Photoshop. I also used a 128 mm focal length Asker guide scope with a QHY5-II-M camera on an Atlas EQ-G equatorial mount. Other software included: NINA, PHD, Plate Solver 2, and Stellarium.
