M31 and Witch Head

[Max Kilmister]

Attached are two recent images. M31, being only about 20 degrees above the northern horizon, suffers a fair degree of blue extinction that wasn't helped by a smokey atmosphere when most of the sub-images were taken. (It would be great to be able to image this galaxy from the northern hemisphere where it is high overhead and the outer details could be brought out. Imaging details were: Takahashi TOA-130F telescope at f5.8 using a focal reducer, Tak. EM-200 mount, Lodestar autoguider, STL 11000M camera. Exposure: LRGB = 60,40,40,40 minutes with R, G, and B binned 2x2. All 10 minute subs.

The very faint Witch Head Nebula used exactly the same setup. Exposure was LRGB = 90,60,60,60 minutes with R, G and B binned 2x2. All 10 minute subs.

Regards

Max Kilmister

[Garyh]

Fantastic result Max! both very well captured and processed!
The witchhead is brought out really well against the background!
Well done indeed!

[Jen]

Very nice Max :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Two really nice shots Max :thumbsup: The field is superb. As Gary mentioned the witch head really stands out. Lovely colors and contrast. Top work!

[jjjnettie]

Splendid work as usual Max.
Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[Max Kilmister]

Thanks for the comments. I should make one correction - the images were autoguided with the STL 11K's internal guide chip, not a Lodestar. I use the Lodestar with a guidescope only when I image with my Starlight Xpress SXV-H9.

[Robbie]

Very nice captures a pleasure to look at.:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yeh great shots Max, the Witch Head is pretty spectacular.

Mike

[Nightskystargaz]

Max,

:thumbsup:, Nice images, Like them a lot. :).

:thanx:,

Tom

[telecasterguru]

Max,

The witches head is a stand out. Very vibrant.

Frank

[AlexN]

Yep that Witch head is a real stand out shot! Some of the brighter stars look a touch bloated, but considering the overall quality of the image, I'd let that slide! :)

The M31 is a real stunner too, showing great detail for what is largely considered a Northern Hemisphere target.

Well done indeed..

[renormalised]

Nice piccies, Max. It's a pity you can't post the originals...the compression artifacts in many piccies posted really don't do them justice.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Really nice. Thanks for those.
There's something about the Witch Head that I find particularly enthralling.