The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in Andromeda

[Octane]

Hi all,

When I was a kid, I remember reading in the newspaper that the Andromeda galaxy would be visible in the north-eastern sky at a particular time of the night. My father had bought me a pair of Hanimex 7x50 binoculars and I recall waking up and trying in vain to see this majestic object which was touted as being the most distant visible object to the unaided human eye.

I had no idea what a planisphere was, or what the constellations looked like. I remember reading that I had to look for the Great Square of Pegasus and navigate my way to the galaxy. Alas, I never found it on that night, or on subsequent nights.

Anyhow, that's how my love of astronomy was born.

20-something years later, I have been fortunate enough to photograph this most beautiful of celestial treasure-troves.

I couldn't wait to process this. It's a rough process. I will add some hydrogen alpha to this and re-visit it.

6.5 hours LRGB: 210 60 60 60.

I must say, though, that I am completely in love with PixInsight. What a remarkable piece of software!

Normal resolution available here (http://scratch.hqphotography.com.au/m31_.html).
50% resolution available here (http://scratch.hqphotography.com.au/m31_50pc.html).

Would appreciate your comments, critique, etc.

Hope you like it!

H

[mill]

Mr H that looks awesome already :prey2:
Can't wait for the fully finished picture.

[troypiggo]

That is absolutely gorgeous!

[atalas]

Looks great!congrats H.

[TrevorW]

Thats a great effort H, this one is always out of sight for me so I'm envious, you've really nailed it here :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[erick]

That's pretty.

[batema]

Straight to the pool room for that one. Looks fantastic.

[DavidTrap]

You the man H - when do you start giving tutorials on PixInsight?

DT

[sjastro]

Spectacular image H.

Steven

[Alchemy]

One of if not the prettiest galaxy, just due to it's sheer size, would like to have this on my achievements too low here though, it just ends up blurry.

I'm thinking you're happy with that.

[gregbradley]

A fabulous result. What a wonderful image of such a low lying galaxy.

Greg.

[desler]

Love it H. Well done.

Darren

[multiweb]

Cool shot. :thumbsup:

[seeker372011]

:eyepop::thumbsup:

[Osirisra]

Brilliant!

[SkyViking]

That's absolutely beautiful H. I really like the suble yet well defined colours and the processing looks excellent. It will be interesting to see it with H-alpha added!
This is one that I cannot observe from my location, I have too many trees to the north, so thanks for the lovely view :)

[jjjnettie]

thanks for sharing it with us H. You've done a wonderful job on it.

[kinetic]

Oh my, that is just....as I'd expect an M31 from H.
Words fail......:rolleyes::thumbsup:

Steve

[mishku]

Lovely work as always, H

[DavidU]

What a stunner !!!!!! Well done H.

[RobF]

H, I'm lost for words. Just stunning. Thanks so much for showing - one of my fav objects of all time too. You must be so thrilled with that :eyepop:

[asimov]

Fantastic image H!

[Ross G]

Hi Humayun,

The Andromeda galaxy is my favourite object in the whole sky and you have produced such a beautiful photo of it.

I love the colours and the composition and am looking forward to your completed photo.


Thank you.

Ross.

[Ric]

A brilliant capture H.

Where was this image captured? I always thought Andromeda was to low in the Canberra region.

[strongmanmike]

I am assuming this was taken from Canberra? If so it is one of the best Andromeda Galaxy images I have seen taken from mid southern latitudes, lovely :)

I can totally relate to your memories too :thumbsup:

Mike

[Tom Davis]

A fantastic image! Really well done!

Tom

[alan meehan]

Great effort H lovely detail one of the best
AL

[iceman]

Excellent result H, lovely.

Well done!

[h0ughy]

great work H - though i am sure you can tease out the core more and the dust lanes with a bit more processing in Pixinsight. With that shot you should be able to thresh out the regions with emission and reflection nebulae a bit better (go on push your data ;) ) geez if i can just see them in my poor old shot with a DSLR you should have them nailed with this amount of data and that big ST11000?

[bloodhound31]

Awesome stuff Humayun! I can see I'm gonna have to go a long way west or north to try this one....darned neighbours tree and Canberra light to my north.

Top job mate!

Baz.

[batema]

How long were the exposures you took if you get a chance in terms of minutes individual.

Mark

[niko]

H, that is just a glorious image - colour, composition, everything

It's an inspiration

thanks for sharing

niko

[cookie8]

Just beautiful !

[Martin Pugh]

Nicely done H!

Star colour is really good and if it were my image I would punch up the contrast and colour in M31 also.

Regardless, super job.

Martin

[vanwonky]

Absolutely awesome and inspiring!

[Leonardo70]

Great Photo , fantastic color.

Congrats,
Leo

[Stevec35]

Great image H. Incredible when you consider how low it is down here.

Cheers

Steve

[CoolhandJo]

Lovely! Framing stars detail!

[alexch]

What a great image! It draws me to come back for another look every now and again. Lovely, subtle colours and processing.

Alex

[leon]

Cant complain about that one H, excellent effort indeed.

Leon

[Phil Hart]

that is a *very* impressive result from so far south. lovely colours & levels. very natural appearance. :thumbsup:

i assume PixInsight has done some magic with sky gradients and that is one of the things you are impressed with?

Phil

[richardo]

This is an excellent image H...
Love the colours you've achieved
yes and to think you were able to get this amount of clarity down here in the southern Hem...

Excellent!!

I guess like many of us, this very bright megalith pretty much dazzled us in our first years in viewing.... my memories of freezing nights juggling a star chart, red light and little gem mount around the sky..... really it was joy!

Thanks for sharing

Rich

[Hagar]

Very nice H. Don't know how I missed this image. An old favorite I can't even see from my place. The mountains are in the way.

[Tandum]

What the hell .. how on earth did you see this from down there. Looking good though.

[luigi]

Hi Master H,

This is spectacular, I'm speechless.
I've tried to photograph a nightscape with Andromeda for years but never could, how did you get Andromeda so clear from your location? Any tips for me?

Luis

[Octane]

Thank you, so much, everyone.

I don't have time to reply at the moment, but, I appreciate all your kind words!

The L sub-exposures were 10 minutes each, and RGB were 5 minutes each.

H

[Omaroo]

Excellent job Humayun. Makes me wish I had the time and desire to go outside and shoot again.

[dugnsuz]

That is SWEET H!!

[Mliss]

:eyepop:

breathtaking! you must be so proud of this pic! thank you for showing us.

i loved reading your story too. :thumbsup:

[Greybeard]

That image is inspirational, H. Taken from such a southerly latitude and so sharp.

[Chancellor]

Another absolutely spectacular image from you H.

[Octane]

A big thank you to all again, from a cold and snowy Arthurs Pass here in New Zealand! Been a big day of hiking and trekking and falling down into bogs and what not and arriving back at carparks way after dark.

Mel, glad you liked my little story. :)

H

[Peter Ward]

Very classy image.... rarely captured so well from south of the equator.

Nice one :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[p1taylor]

H that is really something, detail looks superb really well don.

peter

[Garyh]

Awesome work Mr H :thumbsup: With all that atmospheric extinction you have brought out the colors beautifully!
Have fun hiking!
cheers Gary

[Irish stargazer]

Beautiful image.
Back home, M31 is almost overhead and easily visible in semi-dark skies. One of the first objects that I saw through my 10x50 binos when I was 12 years old. Getting homesick now:(

[rcheshire]

I didn't look at the details at first but recognised the software right away. Great stuff.