October 28 imaging of M31 and M33

Here's one 4 minute exposure of M31 and M33 with Canon 350, 50 mm f1.8 II lens @ 3.2. ISO 200. No filter. The Moon is almost half full, so I'm fighting Moonglow. The stars are a little better rounded here, as I get a better handle on alignment of my tracker.

Andromeda (M31) and Pinwheel (M33) Galaxies

Here's a photo of Andromeda M31, and the Pinwheel (also called Triangulum) M33 Galaxies. This is one 4 minute exposure, Canon 350, 50 mm f1.8 II lens @ f/2.8, using the Hinged Astrophotographic Tracker. No filter was used. In Photoshop, I used auto levels to remove light pollution, then curves to bring out the stars, then cropped the photo to frame the galaxies. The Pinwheel Galaxy is at the very corner of the original photo. There was some slight elongation of stars since I'm still in the process of optimizing the alignment of my tracker to the Celestial Pole.

Hinged Astrophotographic Tracker

Here's a few photos of my barn door mount based on the instructions provided by ClownFish on the Cloudy Nights Blog. He calls it a Hinged Astrophotographic Tracker. I made some minor modifications to his design. The polar alighment scope is attached to a machined piece of crown moulding that is epoxied to the square end of the shelf as shown. The scope fits nicely into the grooved part of the moulding. Also, I added springs in between the two boards near the hinge to minimize the torque on the nut which turns the timing wheel. I can easily add or subtract springs as needed based on the weight of the lens I've attached to the camera. Lastly, I constructed a 30 degree wooden mount with a 3x4 piece of wood to provide a starting alignment for my location in Southern California.