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Capturing Galaxies for Noobs

Acquisition Beginner Deep Sky Galaxy NGC598
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Is this even a good idea?
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92% (36 votes)
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Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Hi everyone! Im new to astrophotography, and Ive only done planetary imaging up to this point. You can find it all in my profile.

However I have a dream. My dream is to capture a galaxy. 

Speaking of equipment, I use tabletop EQ mount with guiding motor which should allow me to do long exposures, 70mm maksutov telescope with focal length of 750mm and a 23mm 62FOV aspheric eyepiece with it. To take images I use iPhone 13 mini with a ProCamera app which allows me to control ISO shutter exposure etc. I mount it using celestron mount for 1.25 eyepieces.

Ive been thinking about Andromeda, but then realized that with my setup FOV would be to narrow to capture the whole thing, so the only way to capture andromeda would using the phone only. However! The Triangulum galaxy, being a smaller one, should fit just right. 



So for me the big question remains - is this whole thing even possible? Has anyone successfully captured the Triangulum galaxy using 70mm scope and an iphone?



P.S.: I plan to use UHC filter and attempt this in a dark place where sky quality is good
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Marc Monarcha avatar
Marc Monarcha avatar
Hey there!

It never hurts to try! You will need much more total exposure to get out the details in a galaxy. If you say your mount is good enough for long exposures, then I say your weakest point is the camera. That being said, at this point, the best upgrade you can make to get a better picture is your camera. Have you considered a DSLR or a dedicated astro camera?
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Joe Linington avatar
Joe Linington avatar
Absolutely. We only got here because thousands of curious people before you said "hmm, I wonder what will happen if". The worst outcome is you realize that an iPhone isn't the best tool for the job and buy a planetary or EAA camera, or you get bit by the bug and start saving for a better camera.
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John Hayes avatar
John Hayes avatar
There are a number of galaxies that aren’t any harder than many nebulas.  Pick one that’s big and bright like M32, M33, M101, or M81  (if you are in the N. Hemisphere) and put in as much exposure time as you can stand.  The more the better.  Then calibrated it and stack it all up to see what you get!

John
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Tim McCollum avatar
Tim McCollum avatar
There are only 3 planets that you can much detail from, 100's of galaxies.
Ivan M avatar
Ivan M avatar
Of course you should try.  I spent my first year in this hobby pushing the limits of what I could photograph with an iphone and the same Celestron phone adapter you are using.  The results were awesome, well at least that's what I thought at the time, but they were good enough to give me a sense of achievement and to keep me striving to get better. Try it, what's the down side?
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