About: The name Triangulum doesn’t refer to the galaxy itself at all. This galaxy does have very stout arms, so I thought maybe in the old times when they saw it, it had a triangular appearance. No, turns out if you know your constellations, there is one called Triangulum that is just a triangle of 3 stars (see image below). This is in our Local Group, making it one of our galactic neighbors. The local group is made up of our galaxy, the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy (the largest), and this, the Triangulum Galaxy (the furthest from us) along with ~50 dwarf galaxies.

My Notes: This image marks a new chapter in my astrophotography journey. Taken on Nov. 1, 2024 from 21:51 to 22:25, this was my first attempt at a Deep Sky Object (DSO) with a telescope instead of a camera lens. Additionally, it was my first attempt at using a guide scope. Up until now I had either used my iOptron SkyGuider Pro (early days) which is just an auto rotator, or my iOptron CEM26 Go-To mount. The tracking was always done by the mount itself, which according to the internet is only accurate to +/- 10 arcseconds when unguided. When connected to a guidescope, it should be accurate to 1-2 arcseconds. This means if I used a guidescope, my accuracy would increase 10 fold.

This was taken at a rental house near Calamus, Reservoir, NE on an astrophotography trip with fellow members from the Prairie Astronomy Club. I decided to give ‘doing astrophotography like everyone else’ a try. I’d spent days researching with ChatGPT to figure out why people use telescopes vs quality camera lenses. The short answer is they can provide significantly larger primary optics, much easier focusing, and more focal length. My Celestron NexStar 6SE (I only bought it for general purpose public outreach events), which isn’t notable for it’s photography capabilities, matched or exceeded the capabilities of the much more expensive Nikkor 800mm lens I used in M16. Additionally, it let me mount a guide scope to the tube, allowing me to try guiding from a computer for that better tracking accuracy.

I spent the night of the 31st trying to get everything to work. My ZWO ASI220MM Mini guiding camera that I’d ordered for the trip got delayed in the mail so I had to borrow a Mead LPI-G camera to put in the SVBony SV106 Guide Scope I’d purchased. I was also using a focal reducer on the main scope to my Nikon Z8. I spent 6 hours trying to even see a star before the clouds rolled in. The following night, a fellow astrophotographer, Brett Boller, helped me get everything in focus. It turns out both cameras needed to have their spacers adjusted. Once I was actually able to see a star, I spent 2ish hours trying to figure out tracking. That lasted for literally 33 minutes (the duration of this object’s exposure) before it stopped working and I could never get it functioning again.

The object is quite sharp and stacked well. I probably could have gotten the same result without the guide camera, using just the mount (though the guide scope wasn’t working well even when it was “working”). I also took propper flats, biases, and darks this time which really did a good job fixing the mottled pattern I was seeing in M16 and M31. Overall, I’m pleased with the capture and edit. The software Siril does a good job. I’m looking forward to setting up in my yard again with the new guiding camera and trying to get the guiding working accurately.

Messier Notes: (Aug. 25, 1764) ‘The nebula is whitish light of almost even brightness. However, along two-thirds of its diameter it is a little brighter. Contains no star. Seen with difficulty in a 1-foot telescope.’

Johan Bode: (Aug. 18, 1775) ‘A faintly nebulous patch of disorderly shape’

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse: ‘Full of knots. Spiral arrangement. Two similar curves like an “S” cross in the centre.’