M 31 on the 2nd of October

[hotspur]

Moon set around 10.30 last night,last chance to do any sort of astrophotography testing.Wanted to try M31,this object really does not stay around long due to its northern aspect-even having a good view to north its only a wide hand span above horizen.Got all gear ready and guiding but as moon set-clouds rise!

Had a brief window to get 6 or 7 images at 4 minutes each.stacked in DSS with 5 darks,Played around in Cs 5.There is an artifact in image top right-due to the camera-used a Canon 450D,which really is pretty crappy for this sort of photography-but I no longer want to use the 50D for this sort of thing.So in future will lower the object and crop.This is my 4th go with DSS.So lots to learn.Camera on a 4 inch apo scope.Pleased to see the guiding issues have settled down.

Managed some good subs of NGC 104 after this (the clouds went),so will stack that another time.

Thanks for looking-Chris

[TrevorW]

Good effort

[Ross G]

Hi Chris,

A nice shot.

I am no expert, but from shots I have taken of M31 with a Canon 350d, I think there is more detail that you can extract from your shots.

Good luck.

Ross.

[hotspur]

Thanks Ross.

Yes-I feel you are correct-I have no idea on how to get that extra zip out of this data collected last night.I am sure I will learn in time.The hardest part for me lately is to collect the data that is usable.Fairly pleased with this effort.The best part of all this data collection,is that the RAW is always still there-I have backed it up,and go back and re PP when more idea of what to
do.

Was very cold last night for October 5 degrees at 1.30am!.Thanks Trevor for feed back.

Cheers Chris

[adman]

Nice going chris. There may be some more detail and better contrast to get out of this one, but the best thing would be some more subs. I was out at ten chain hill on Saturday night (in the freezing wind) and managed to get this image of M31:

Link here (http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n528/astrobug/Astrophotography/M31_17x300s_800iso.jpg)

It was 17 x 5min subs. I didn't take any flats as i fell asleep at the scope! But I did subtract some library darks from similar sensor temps.

Cheers Adam

[hotspur]

Looks fantastic Adam,well done-although your gear results look much more advanced than mine! I do not have a dedicated astro camera-only a cheap dslr.But still looking forward to get a bit more contrast etc out of data-cheers.

[DavidTrap]

Adam's using a 550D Chris.

DT

[hotspur]

Looks good,going by that-just need to collect more light frames,adam's was one and a half hours of light frames.mine was 24 minutes.

Had another fiddle,but really need lot more light frames to bring out those outer arms of the galaxy.Cheers.