M31 Andromeda Galaxy

[Bassnut]

Hi Guys

A bit of armchair astronomy (GRAS) to while away the time :P (well, and a bit of work in CCD stack and PS on my part).

Hardly a masterpiece given what our brothers in the Northern Hemisphere have achieved, but fun to do given the realively short exposure times.

M31 Andromeda Galaxy
LRGB all 5 min subs, L 45 min, RGB 25 min each
Taken on a Tak FSQ106ED and ST11K (GRAS G14 in New Mexico)

http://fredsastro.googlepages.com/

[Dennis]

Looks very good to me Fred, very good indeed. I like it!

Cheers

Dennis

[Peter Ward]

Great shot Fred. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Jen]

:eyepop: very nice Fred your other pictures you have there are amazing too great work cheers :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

nice result, interesting to compare that to your 12' shot

[multiweb]

Pretty cool! Very nice colours. :thumbsup:

[Matty P]

Stunning result Fred. Very very nice.

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Looks like the famous photo that graced the cover of the book Universe (from the 60's I believe?) made from Palomar 48" Schmidt Plates taken in the late 50's.

Nice work!

Mike

[Hagar]

Very nice work Fred. Gras would be the only way to get this image from my Observatory. Way to low and behind the mountains for me.

[AlexN]

Very smooth M31 Fred..

That image just kicked my M31 image off my desktop background :D

[Jen]

lol Alex :lol::lol: mine too :whistle:

[Bassnut]

Thanks Dennis, Peter, Jen, David, Marc, Matt, Mike and Alex.

Im honored some find it worthy for a desktop background hehe.

[Octane]

Fred,

Beautiful! I can't wait to have a go at this target.

Cheers for the inspiration!

Regards,
Humayun

[ChrisM]

Excellent result Fred. It appears to have more depth (3D effect) than many I've seen.

Chris

[Craig_L]

Lovely shot Fred. I'd love to try the GRAS in New Mexico on the M31 on a Tak. Can never see it from my location even if it is low down.

[Ric]

Just caught up with this image Fred, I'm glad I'm did it's a beauty.

[gregbradley]

Good one Fred.

Greg.

[Bassnut]

Thanks Humayun, Chris, Craig, Ric, Greg.

Sheesh, it feels like cheating, its the GRAS set up that made it easy :D.

Give GRAS just one go guys, get a NH classic under your belt we cant see here, and add your own personal processing touch :whistle:.

[AlexN]

Fred... After looking at your image a few times, I headed over to the GRAS site... The pricing is actually very reasonable if you pick the right time to image... Ie - If I were to use GRAS08 (12.5" RCOS ST-11k) during the full moon, I'd get 9.2hrs for ~$150ish... Considering the rig has narrowband filters available, full moon would not be a problem, and 9hrs with that setup would capture a fairly awesome image I think..

Its unfortunate however that up in the northern hemisphere theres a lot of wide field setups, but not many serious narrow field setups. the have an FRC300 iirc, however If I was paying to use an RC scope, it would be the 12.5" RCOS :)

[Bassnut]

Alex, well yes, moon discount is cool for NB on Gras, but youve picked by far the most expensive combo, NB, Narrow field, ABG cam and megadata.

G15 actually gives lower exposure times at 10" with a NABG cam than 12" G8 with the ST11k ABG cam, but G8s narrow field and hi res is nice.

Check J Ebersoles site http://www.astrographica.com/index.php?q=gallery&g2_itemId=1029&g2_GALLERYSID=TMP_SESSION_ID_DI_NOI SSES_PMT

He does fairy short exposure NB images on all Gras scopes with very good results, at FAR less than 9.5 hrs.

[RB]

This is another image I didn't get a chance to reply to before Lostock.
Excellent result Fred, I always enjoy your work, well done mate.

Too bad the weather and equipment didn't cooperate at Lostock, it would have been great to see some imaging done from there too.

It was great to meet you at last though.

:thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Thanks Andrew, and nice to meet you too.

[winensky]

Wow. I just didn't think it was possible to get that sort of clarity so close to the horizon. Very impressive.

[Bassnut]

Matt, it wasnt ;)

It was taken on Gras in the NH.

[atalas]

Quite an exciting shot Fred,congrats.

[winensky]

Er... oops. That will teach me not to just look at the pics:doh:. A great pic all the same.