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Andromeda with a nearly full moon


robster

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Hi,

I've been trying to get a good shot of Andromeda for ages, but have been blighted by clouds, weather, work and all sorts. Last night was clear over Exmoor, although the moon was out, so I went out early. Unfortunately, just as I started capturing, my blessed pager went, and I had to dash out, in my haste, I knocked the focus out of my camera, and 200+ lights were ruined. 🥵

Anyway, hopefully the sky is clear again tonight, but I have some questions....

1) The moon will be bigger and brighter tonight - will this be an issue, and if not, what camera settings should I use.

2) I intend to use my Canon 5DMkIV (full frame DSLR) with a 400mm f5.6 lens and take around 150 to 200 lights at 30 seconds at ISO 800. Is this about right, or should I be increasing the exposure time?

3) I also have a f2.8 200mm lens which I can use with a 1.4X teleconverter to give me 280mm at f4  -would 200mm or 280mm be a better option?

 

Thanks!!

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You could look at telescopius and see the size of the image you get with different focal lengths.  I'd go with the 400 I think but the 200 is going to be more forgiving of poor tracking.  Not that my own guiding recently has been anything shout about!   Generally more total exposure is better but I'm guessing from the mention of Exmoor that you have low light pollution in which case your 200 subs might be ok as Andromeda is quite bright.  Have a look at https://snrcalc.vercel.app/calculators and it will give you an idea of the signal to noise ratio you can expect from your total exposure.

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