M31

[Mickoid (Michael)]

I took this a few days ago from a location just over 50km north of Melbourne's CBD. It was still very low in the sky so not much chance of capturing the detail northerners can get from it but at least you can see the dust lanes. It was taken with Canon 550d using a 45 year old Pentax 300mm lens at f8 to reduce some of the aberrations so evident when the aperture is wide open on these older lenses. There's still some coma and CA but not too bad, especially for a wide field shot. I took just over an hour of data, unguided on a HEQ5 mount, which is about all you get as it hovers over the horizon.

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Excellent Andromeda from so far south, did you use a clip in filter at all.
like an CLS.
Have an old Tamron 300mm and EOS adapters, maybe I should give it a try. Have imaged it a few years ago with an ED80 at 480mm from 34 deg sth dark site and was happy with the result but I like the look with the wider field you've captured.

[Ant0nio (Tony)]

Nice one Mick, a testimony to the 45yo Pentax for just over an hour of data .
Cheers,
Tony

[Stephane]

Awesome Mick, looks great! Did you have slight pollution filter?

Regards,
Stéphane

[multiweb (Marc)]

Great effort from down south. I had to go to QLD to get a decent shot at it. Back home it transits close to the zenith.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Saturnine

Excellent Andromeda from so far south, did you use a clip in filter at all.
like an CLS.
Have an old Tamron 300mm and EOS adapters, maybe I should give it a try. Have imaged it a few years ago with an ED80 at 480mm from 34 deg sth dark site and was happy with the result but I like the look with the wider field you've captured.

Thanks Jeff, I used a UV/IR cut clip filter because this 550d has been Astro modified. I've taken this with my 550mm Esprit 100 but had to centre the galaxy diagonally across the frame to fit on a APCS camera. It's nice to see it at shorter focal lengths amongst all those surrounding stars.

Originally Posted by Ant0nio

Nice one Mick, a testimony to the 45yo Pentax for just over an hour of data .
Cheers,
Tony

Thanks Tony, aberrations you didn't notice with film become noticeable with digital sensors but you can adapt your techniques in capturing to help these old lenses a bit. More data would be great but opportunities with the wet conditions this year make it difficult find a suitable night to try for more.

Originally Posted by Stephane

Awesome Mick, looks great! Did you have slight pollution filter?

Regards,
Stéphane

Thanks Stephane, no filters used except for a Eos UV/IR cut clip-in filter.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Great effort from down south. I had to go to QLD to get a decent shot at it. Back home it transits close to the zenith.

Thanks Marc, the location I shoot from is elevated so I get a good view of the northern horizon and because I'm facing away from the city lights, light pollution is minimal in that direction.

[JA]

That ROCKS Mick. Well done
You've given Melburnians hope of an M31. Makes one want to bust out a 300.

Best
JA

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

What an impressive widefield Mick! Plenty of space around this grand neighboring galaxy in this capture which we don't see too frequently.
Top work and always, showing us how much you can get of the the gear you've got at hand.

Well done.
Anth

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks JA and Anth, I like using stuff I've had from the film days and marrying it up with the technology of today's digital age to see what I can come up with. This galaxy is huge and obviously can be seen from these latitudes. The further north you are the better it is but any telephoto lens will show it up with some detail provided the seeing and transparency are cooperating.