Photographing the Andromeda Galaxy: 10 Seconds vs 10 Hours
Posted December 11 at 1:35 PM by Jason Kottke (http://www.kottke.org/). Gift link
Ian Lauer’s video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs8iGuyocCs) offers a clear, accessible tour of astrophotography basics, walking through how he captures a long-exposure image of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Although the resulting picture appears in black and white, the galaxy itself isn’t colorless. Color exists within the image, and we’ll circle back to that soon. For now, let’s zoom into the details of the image and see what you’re actually looking at.
Notice the graininess in the shot—that’s noise. It’s something photographers hate because it hides fine details. A common remedy is to shoot multiple frames of the same target in quick succession and then stack them in software. Stacking combines all the frames to average out the background noise and reveal clearer information.
Compare a single 1-minute exposure with a stack of ten 1-minute exposures. The stacked image looks much cleaner and more detailed than the lone 1-minute frame, illustrating the dramatic improvement noise reduction can deliver.
If you’d like more guidance, there are plenty more videos on Ian Lauer’s channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ianlauerastro/videos). Highlights include Shooting the Milky Way from Every Light Pollution Level (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRuLSFmBIFs) and The BEST Telescope for Beginners (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TIOSPMZkL0). Lauer even endorses the Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0C37KG6VD/ref=nosim/0sil8), a popular pick among social media discussions about telescopes (https://kottke.org/25/12/0047930-the-best-telescopes-for-a). Personally, I’m planning to watch his video about astrophotography with the iPhone 17 Pro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErNooJgRFDY) as well. (Via The Kid Should See This: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/photographing-andromeda-galaxy-ianlauer-10-seconds-10-hours)
Tags and links:
- astronomy: https://kottke.org/tag/astronomy
- Ian Lauer: https://kottke.org/tag/Ian%20Lauer
- photography: https://kottke.org/tag/photography
- space: https://kottke.org/tag/space
- video: https://kottke.org/tag/video
Would you like a quick breakdown of how stacking works in practical terms, or beginner-friendly steps to replicate this with a consumer camera?
