Fuzzy disk shaped thingy in Andromeda

[RobF]

M31 and 32 from Sat night at 10 Chain Hill.
Childhood dream finally fulfilled to get a decent view of this beast - and 600 posts to boot....

10 x 5 mins, ISO 400, 450D on 8" Newt.


Edit: Link to large jpg: (click on "Full screen" in top left corner, and hit F11 for Full Screen in IE)
http://picasaweb.google.com/UserRobF/LargeSizeImages#5363826270383883938

[Screwdriverone]

Congrats Rob,

Firstly on the 600 posts, still there when I posted this,

Secondly, on that "fuzzy" thing,

Oh and Third, DONT look fuzzy to me!

That's a corker!

So, congrats all round. Well done, I like it a lot.

Chris

[jjjnettie]

Rob, that is one of the best M31's I've seen. You've processed it to a turn.
Fabulous work.
Congrats on hitting 600.

[Matty P]

Wow Rob that's a beauty. Excellent detail and dust lanes are resolved very nicely.

I've always wanted to get my own image of this big fella one day... Gotta head up north.

Great work. :thumbsup:

[DavidU]

Fabulous ! I have never seen this beasty

[telecasterguru]

Just beautifully captured and processed. Wonderful image.

[koputai]

Wow! That's awesome. Great job Rob.

Cheers,
Jason.

[renormalised]

Nice shot there, Rob. Really nicely processed:D:D

Yay for 600!!:D

[jjjnettie]

Rob, are you going to submit this one to Sky and Tel?
It's truly worthy.
Apart from sharing a beaut image with the wider astro community, it validates with the missus all those nights you've been away.

[marc4darkskies]

Awesome fuzzy thingy Rob :thumbsup::thumbsup: .... wait a minute ... <puts his glasses on> ... that's not fuzzy at all!!! One of the best 31s I've seen from down under - well done!

Cheers, Marcus

[Screwdriverone]

Hi Rob,

Can we possibly get a link to a higher res version please? (ie no compression)?

It's that good!

Thanks

Chris

[CoolhandJo]

What an image for only 50min! Great work and nice detail.

[sadia]

i didnt need the morning coffee to wake me up after opening the image. Stunning.

[gregbradley]

That's a beauty. So low on the northern horizon. I wouldn't even be able to catch it that low from my observatory. I'd have to setup a portable tripod.

Well done.

Greg.

[Lester]

Top image of this great galaxy of the north.

[AlexN]

Awesome! absolutely, unequivocally -AWESOME-!!

I agree with JJJ, submit that to Aussie Sky and Telescope... iits a corker!

[Hagar]

Not too fuzzy to me Rb, This is magnificent. Beautiful image.
Well done.

[leon]

Fuzzy or not that is a beauty Rob, but I can't see any fuzzy stuff so it must be spot on, well done indeed.

Leon

[RobF]

Many many thanks for all the kind words everyone. Looks like I'm not the only one fascinated (obsessed) with Andromeda.




Glad you enjoyed Chris!



Thanks Jeanette - I spent quite a while trying to do the best I could on this one - didn't want to make any excuses for shortcuts - glad you like it



Thanks Matty - re dust lanes, I hoped I'd at least be able to get some detail if I couldn't hope to fit the whole object it. Hope you get a chance to come to Qld Astrofest one day maybe.....









Many thanks David, Frank, Jason and Carl!

[RobF]

JJJ - no harm in trying S&T I guess - hadn't thought of that. Funny you mention the other half too. I eventually convinced her to come and have a look at the almost finished article - only time I've managed to get a "OMG! - did you take that?" from her :lol:
Did help explain a little bit why I was a zombie on Sunday.



Thanks Marcus - less competition from the big RC's in Sydney and Melb up here maybe?.....;)



Chris, re a bigger version, I'll see if I can - I'm not much of a guru on image hosting. Will post a link if I figure something out. To be honest I don't think there is a heck of a lot more detail to be seen - the "jpg artifacts" are probably real limitations in the image....I'm just happy the Skywatcher got me this far - very happy with my scope.



Thanks Paul!



LOL Sadia - glad I was able to give you a morning "lift" :)



Many thanks Greg - seems ages since we were able to get a decent look at it here in Bris.



Most appreciated Lester



Many thanks Alex! Did Troy say it was ok to use 2 "Awesomes" in a post? Appreciate your praise.



Many many thanks Doug



Thanks Leon - I must have done a decent job of softening the noise then :whistle:
Thanks goodness for Ron Wodaski and Jerry Lodriguss....

[RobF]

Not sure its such a good idea, but link to full size jpg added to original post....:)

[jjjnettie]

So Rob, what are you going to WOW us with next?:)

[spacezebra]

WOW! Brilliant! Stunning!

Cheers Petra d.

[Tamtarn]

The central core glow is stunning Rob beautifully processed. :thumbsup: Looks like the extra time spent on it really paid off.

[sjastro]

Very nice.

From my location M31 is only 12 degrees above the horizon.

Steven

[troypiggo]

That's AWESOME! And I don't throw around that word unwarranted or very often :)

Seriously, it's a ripper. Looking forward to a chance to image it myself at Astrofest maybe. Gotta be a fav.

[jjjnettie]

Are you going to enter it in the Astrophotography Comp. at Astrofest?
You've got till the 10th of August to post your entry in, or, for a small fee, Tony will print it out for you.

[IanL]

Rob that’s a GREAT shot of M31.

Brought some memories of when I stayed in Scotland we were able to see this with the naked eye from a dark site location as a fuzz ball virtually overhead in-between Cassiopeia and the square of Pegasus during winter.
Mind you that was when we had one or two clear nights in a year J

That’s beautiful, just perfect.

Well Done

Ian

[RobF]

Not much data left up my sleeves now Jeanette - still have to work on M91 and 92 from Sat. Nature has only given us one Andromeda though :)



Thanks for the encouragement Petra - perhaps Albert will get a chance to help you explore M31 one day - he looks like a fantastic scope...



Thanks Barbara/David - I took a series of one min exposures to hedge against the core burning out, but in the end had more success with careful stretching



Thanks Steven - its still a pretty short window to catch it from a decent dark sky site up here. I only had one brief go Oct last year that seriously whetted my apetite!



Thanks mate! You've definitely got the right gear now with the ED80 and modded 40D - GO FOR IT!!



I'm an Astrofest newbie remember JJJ - who's Tony and how would I organise that? (I guess it would be nice to have a print anyway)



Thanks Ian - I'm sure that would have been a fantastic experience. I still have trouble getting my head around how big it is. Just awe inspiring...

[jjjnettie]

Astrofest Photo comp
There's info here about the comp.
http://www.qldastrofest.org.au/html/photo_comp.htm
Tony (firstlight)
Posted this here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=42672&page=3
Only 22 days to the Queensland Astrofest, and incidentally, the closing of the Astrophotography Competition. There has only been one entry so far... even I might have a chance if this keeps up .

If you have a photo you want to enter either send the image (no larger than A4) sandwiched between some serious cardboard, contact a club representative on the committee, or send a request to the registrar and we will see what we can do to get your entry in. Alternatively, we can print it for you (but we must get the file prior to the camp as we want to have the entries viewed on the first evening) but bear in mind the colour balancing may not be to your liking (we have a 6 colour printer here and others have good quality printers as well), and there will be a fee of $5.00.

Get your entries in!

Details on the Queensland Astrofest website.

[Craig_L]

Wonderfull shot Rob. That 450D isn't too shabby (nor your processing).

[Octane]

Rob,

Mate, that is one seriously beautiful image.

Those swirls. Those swirls.

Immense.

7 Internets to you, sir.

You're well on your way now.

Regards,
Humayun

[CoombellKid]

Wow! great image:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Nice to know the potential of my new 450D too, thanks for posting :thumbsup:

Cheers,CS

[CoombellKid]

Btw, what mount were you using?

Cheers'CS

[Alchemy]

lovely rendition, nicely handled in thedepth of brightness between the core and dust lanes. agree with others , should submit it to Sky and Telescope

clive

[lesbehrens]

wow. amazing. something to aspire to .:eyepop::thumbsup:

[RobF]

Appreciate you explaining it in detail JJJ. I've sent Tony an email.



Thanks Craig. I've been really happy with the 450D and what I've learned with it so far.



Glad you enjoyed it Humayun! Means a lot to me too to get the thumbs up from an imaging guru like yourself! :thumbsup:





Thanks Rob. I'm pretty sure the 450D has enough clout to keep me plenty busy for a while too. Taken using the Heq5Pro (450D + MPCC on 8 inch newt and HEQ5Pro, tracking with Guidemaster (guidescope etc in my sig))



Thanks Clive - I'll have to investigate. Chuffed people think it might be worthwhile. No harm trying, and good to see local images while reading.





Thanks Les! You've got some pretty special M31 data yourself you know. And the ED80 is an "Andromeda killer" for sure next chance you get - FOV suits better to soak up the full vista of this one. :)