Our Big Sister - The Andromeda Galaxy: An Astrophotography Adventure (and Misadventure!)
This is my first ever picture of the Andromeda galaxy, and it sure comes with a story.
Acquisition Details:
- Date: August 21st, 2025, 11 PM
- Location: ~5 miles north of Ames, IA (Bortle 4-5)
- Camera: Nikon D5300 (stock)
- Lens: Rokinon 135mm @ f/2.2
- Tracker: None - Stationary Tripod
- Exposure: 215 x 1.3s, total: ~5 minutes exposure, ISO 3200
The Story Behind the Shot:
I live in Ames by ISU, and decided to bike out a few miles to get my first space pic since I've been here. I was biking at night, obviously, and came upon a railroad crossing. My bike had a headlight, but it wasn't super far-reaching, basically just powerful enough for basic navigation. Anyways, I was riding on the right 1/3rd of the road and went to cross the rr crossing. I'm going about 15 mph and suddenly I realize that the rr crossing was only paved for car crossings on the left 2/3rds of the road. So, before I could avoid or react to it, I nose-dived about 8 inches down and crashed.
The drop and collision with the steel railroad tracks bent the arms on my front fork of my bike, so now my wheel has like 4mm of clearance with the frame, and it hits my pedals when I turn sharply. It sucked and hurt a bit, but I pushed on for the rest of my ride. I got to my shooting site and was devastated to find out that I'd grabbed the wrong memory card for my camera, so I ran out of space! This is why my untracked photo is only 5 minutes. But hey! It was an experience.
Go Cyclones!
A Little About Andromeda (M31):
Did you know that the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is our closest large galactic neighbor, located about 2.5 million light-years away? It's so bright that under dark skies, it's actually visible to the naked eye as a faint smudge. Through a telescope, it appears as a beautiful, elongated oval shape, often described as a "golden smear." While it might not be as instantly striking as some nebulae, its immense distance and the fact that we're seeing light that has traveled for millions of years makes it a truly profound sight.
It's amazing to think that this image captures light that started its journey when our ancestors were still evolving! The Andromeda Galaxy is on a collision course with our own Milky Way, and in about 4.5 billion years, they will merge to form an even larger galaxy.
