The Andromeda Galaxy from Beaver Lake -with 6hrs Ha [Archive]

Martin Pugh

27-08-2009, 01:22 PM

Hello everyone

I have been dying to image this. All the time I was in the NH before moving to Australia, did I ever get to turn a scope and camera on to this. Of course, from Canberra latitudes, it barely skips the horizon if at all, but here at Beaver Lake, it has an 80+ degree altitude. The only downside is that as it moves through North, it does so through heavy light pollution coming off the city of Omaha. So, the job of removing that light pollution has been a real challenge. I am going back to M31 over the next few nights to add about 6 hours HA; the right thing to do in the prevailing moon.
So, this is an LRGB image of 3:1:1:1 hours, FSQ106N, STL11K.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/M31LRGB_Full.jpg
1.8Mb

Thanks for looking as always.

cheers
Martin

renormalised

27-08-2009, 01:24 PM

Brilliant piccie, as usual. Great shot Martin:D

sheeny

27-08-2009, 01:38 PM

Just beautiful!

Al.

iceman

27-08-2009, 01:54 PM

Oh wow, that's damn good!

DavidU

27-08-2009, 02:04 PM

Goodness me !Stunning Martin !

erick

27-08-2009, 02:09 PM

Including dust clouds in M110.

Amazing image, Martin! Well done. :thumbsup:

h0ughy

27-08-2009, 02:29 PM

fantastic, cant wait to see the detail to be teased out of the core

dpastern

27-08-2009, 02:52 PM

That's a damn super shot! Wow, really impressive work Martin.

Dave

Octane

27-08-2009, 02:58 PM

Martin,

Another corker of an image. The detail present in the satellite galaxies is amazing!

Regards,
Humayun

Ric

27-08-2009, 02:58 PM

WOW, that's a beauty Martin.

Top stuff.

g__day

27-08-2009, 03:05 PM

Stunning - as lways - you never fail to impress

marc4darkskies

27-08-2009, 03:16 PM

Magnificent Martin! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Cheers, Marcus

batema

27-08-2009, 03:24 PM

That is one amazing shot.

Mark

sjastro

27-08-2009, 03:28 PM

Nice image Martin.

I have frequently remarked to our Northern Hemisphere friends in other forums they are very lucky to have a wonderful variety of galaxies as imaging targets.

Steven

troypiggo

27-08-2009, 05:33 PM

Oh my, that's stunning.

27-08-2009, 05:43 PM

Absolutely jaw dropping Martin !!!
Can't wait to see what you come up with when you add to it.

:thumbsup:

jjjnettie

27-08-2009, 05:50 PM

Stunning work.

strongmanmike

27-08-2009, 06:26 PM

A good solid image of this northern favouite for wide fielders..(umm..like Fred :P :lol:)

Good to see you hammering away so soon after settling in a new country.

I know you are from the northern hemisphere but does the sky now take on a whole new meaning?

Mike

spearo

27-08-2009, 07:25 PM

wow
amazing shot!
frank

seanliddelow

27-08-2009, 07:54 PM

Great image:thumbsup: You can even see the dust clouds in m110.
Im amazed you got this from such a southern location.

Alchemy

27-08-2009, 08:09 PM

must be a beautiful sight being so high in the sky, i think we get the nebs down south and they get the galaxies up where you are.

nice image, be good to see the Ha added it will give it even more depth and interest

gregbradley

27-08-2009, 08:45 PM

That's a great shot Martin.

I've always wanted to image that baby.

Greg.

RobF

27-08-2009, 08:54 PM

What a spectacle. Thanks so much for showing Martin.

GavYo

27-08-2009, 11:10 PM

Wow! :eyepop:

That picture is absolutely stunning.

dugnsuz

27-08-2009, 11:56 PM

Absolutely Beautiful Martin
Doug

Screwdriverone

28-08-2009, 12:27 AM

That's going to be a prize winner right there!

Awesome.

Cheers

Chris

MrB

28-08-2009, 12:56 AM

Absolutely amazing.
Great stuff Martin.

Hope you don't mind my using it for my desktop?

Jen

28-08-2009, 01:02 AM

:eyepop: wow that picture is absolutely beautiful Martin :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Not that i would expect anything less from you i love your work very nice :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

javier alves

28-08-2009, 02:23 AM

is really wonderfull,very nice,:eyepop:

Tamtarn

28-08-2009, 07:47 AM

How great to be able to capture this superb galaxy Martin. That is a remarkable image :thumbsup:

D & B

Martin Pugh

28-08-2009, 09:53 AM

Hello everyone and thank you very much indeed.

As I say, I couldnt wait to get on to this, and it looks like my weather will allow me to get that Ha data, so watch this space for an update in a few days time.

I appreciate you all taking the time to post a comment.

cheers
Martin

lesbehrens

28-08-2009, 05:08 PM

wow, thats is amazing. very nice.

Lester

28-08-2009, 05:26 PM

Looking forward to the finished image, as this one is outstanding. Hard for me to emagine any improvement, so I will look and learn.

Thanks.

Hagar

28-08-2009, 07:32 PM

Lovely Galaxy Martin, I am jealous. M31 is way to low for me to attempt from my place.

Congratulations on the stamp issue as well.
Well deserved.

Matt Wastell

28-08-2009, 08:48 PM

Sweet!
I know it is cold in Canberra but what's the weather like in Beaver Lake - it sounds warm!

Martin Pugh

31-08-2009, 01:54 PM

Hello everyone
my weather has co-operated and allowed me to add 6 hours of Ha.
This is the first time I have ever tried to combine pure Ha into a galaxy image. I tried a couple of techniques to isolate the Ha data and finally achieved it (I think) but there has to be a quicker way. I tried Chris Schur's approach, but could not get that to work at all.

So here is the link to the full frame image (2mb)

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/LRGBPlusHA-v4.jpg

and for a nice comparison methinks, here is a mouseover page.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/Galaxies/M31_Mouseover.htm

I have downsized the images to 1280x 880 for this comparison, so they should fit nicely on a monitor set at that resolution. Just center up the galaxy on your screen then hover your mouse over the image to load the enhanced version.

thanks as always

Martin

Lester

31-08-2009, 02:05 PM

That mouseover hilights the nebula detail within the galaxy. Excellent image Martin.

Thanks.

Jen

31-08-2009, 05:55 PM

:eyepop::eyepop: thats an awsome pic Martin very very nice thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

multiweb

31-08-2009, 06:21 PM

That's quite a treat Martin. The added Ha data does really work for that picture. Top work as usual. :thumbsup:

ChrisM

31-08-2009, 09:54 PM

Martin - a splendid result. Impressive contrast.
Chris

Screwdriverone

31-08-2009, 11:15 PM

That has to be the best image I have ever seen.

Astounding.

Full Stop.

Chris

Martin Pugh

01-09-2009, 09:11 AM

Thanks everyone!

Tom Davis

01-09-2009, 11:08 AM

Beautiful M31! And from Arkansas no less; how's the humidity?

My daughter lives near Beaver Lake, just to the east in Bella Vista, Arkansas. We visited the lake in June; very pretty area.

Tom

Martin Pugh

01-09-2009, 11:45 AM

Thank you Tom

Alas, its Beaver Lake, Nebraska, not Arkansas. Still a very pretty area though.

However, the humidity has been bad, but I am told unseasonably cool. Being by a lake also means that everything is sopping wet mostly even before it gets dark.

BTW - Saw the images you entered as I was browsing through the Astrophotographer of the Year pool a couple of nights ago. Moorook is obviously a pristine site. Great work, and all the very best with that Tom.

cheers
Martin

avandonk

01-09-2009, 12:08 PM

Looks great on my 27" monitor Martin. Makes me want an even bigger monitor to do your image justice. I once saw this as naked eye faint fuzzy from a darker area at the Synchrotron in Chicago.

Bert

Shano592

01-09-2009, 02:38 PM

That is just fantastic. Congratulations on a great image.

:thumbsup:

erick

01-09-2009, 02:49 PM

I just have to get further north and view M31. It's sort of - "Well, it's there" from this far south. Up a whole 11 deg! One day. :sadeyes:

strongmanmike

01-09-2009, 09:48 PM

Yes the addition of the Ha has worked well.

Must be nice to be able to image this beast from better latitudes?

Geez I'd love an FSQ :)

Mike

Martin Pugh

02-09-2009, 09:43 AM

Thanks again folks.

Mike...why would you want an FSQ when you have a 6" AP!

cheers
Martin

strongmanmike

02-09-2009, 07:21 PM

You're kidding right? :doh: 530mm FL with a 35mm chip, 100% corrected and massive image circle plus F5...are a couple of good reasons :whistle:

Probably never have one but it is fun dreaming :prey:

Mike

gregbradley

02-09-2009, 09:34 PM

Fantastic image Martin. The Ha really tops it off eh?

It must be nice having access to these northern targets after imaging the southern ones for several years.

Greg.

Martin Pugh

03-09-2009, 12:15 PM

Hi Mike
yes, I guess you are right.

Greg - yes, it is great. I am very excited about the imaging opportunities, albeit limited. If my remote opportunity ever does materialise, it will be superb. My arc of sky here is very small, light polluted and I cannot see anything of the summer Milky Way. The other aspect of course is that I am limited to imaging large nebulous areas and the likes. Galaxies (with the exception of M31 of course) are typically just not worth shooting at this focal length.
To overcome the light pollution issue, I might just stick to narrowband imaging. It is just so much fun, and doable regardless of what the light pollution might be doing or the moon for that matter.

thanks for commenting.

Martin