My M31 pics and wish I had DSS help

[Daveskywill]

Hi IIS'ers:

Now I need to remember to take at least (roughly) 10 sub's per dark frame:

it's a T2i (although I have a 237A CCD that I could use and would like a

2000XCM someday). PS: on my T2i when I try taking those exp's with the

lenscap on hense dark frames there seems to appear the same few red

pixels in the same few places and I'm guessing that those will remove

when successfully removing dark frames? plus the other bright/fake pixels

I really wish to be more of a pro at aquiring M31, Andromeda pics, up here

that's the cool thing to try. It is visible in my 10" scope, but no color

and those dust lanes aren't visible in the scope. I'm wondering if DSS

(deep-sky stacker) is a good (pre?) processing program to use? There

are some references to tutorials on this and even Maxim DL on YouTube.

I'm asking for help here for DSS, if I can get it.

And these 2 M31 pics weren't done through my 10" scope (though tracked

with it, a Meade LX200GPS mount), but I used my 70mm-300mm APO

zoom lens piggyback. And it's mostly polar aligned.

Any advice?

Thank you.

David

[Daveskywill]

Does anyone know how to get M31 to come into focus on a Canon Rebel T2i using a Sigma 70mm-300mm APO? It's piggyback on my Meade LX200GPS 10" F10 and wedge. So I'm assuming, I need to get the computer to recognize where the stars are, which it won't yet, it hasn't since ever I've tried using a wedge. Then if the pointing accuracy is good goto a bright star, use a mask for focusing if needed and then go back to M31? PS: I'm also using the Canon Utility program that sort of gives the T2i controls that some CCD's have... like it shows a histogram, allows you to control time and exposure and use liveview. Unfortunatly liveview won't always show very dim items even though focused well.

[graham.hobart]

I would use any bright star to lock your focus first (with mask if you have it) then move to M31.
Have you tried Astrophotography Tool software?- it supports most Canons and gives you a good screen to help focus with live view and I also use it when I am aligning as it has cross hairs.
You can also control your image acquisition and ISO etc.

Good luck
Graham