Andromeda and two other galaxies.
My plan was simple. Drive 5 minutes to the lake. Spend 5-10 minutes photographing photo gear for a photo blog article. Drive 5 minutes back home. Total time 15-20 minutes. Melissa (my wife) was thinking about getting dinner ready. I told her I wouldn’t be gone long. After a few minutes doing what I intended, the lure of planets, stars, and the Milky Way sucked me in. 2 1/2 hours later I was still totally immersed in photography of the sky. 3 hours after I left home I called to tell Melissa I was on the way home.
Andromeda, M32, and M110.
I ended up with one of my all time favorite images. Three galaxies are in this photo, M31 (Andromeda), M32, and M110. All three galaxies are in our local group and approximately 2.5 million light years away.
iPhone photo of the Sky-Watcher in action.
My original intention was to photograph the star tracker. That image didn’t come out so well. You can learn more about the sky tracker I used to create this image at the link below. The star tracker did a great job for an an exposure that lasted 3 minutes and 22 seconds using a lens at 285 mm.
And in case you are curious, things were fine when I got home. Melissa knows me well and that these kinds of things can occasionally happen. She ate dinner without me.
Exposure Data: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 70-300 DO IS lens at 285mm. f/8, 202 seconds, ISO 1600.
Link