M 31 - the Milky Way's big brother

RickS (Rick) · #1 01-11-2015, 08:49 PM

Another image captured from SRO in California, M 31 is a favourite of northern hemisphere imagers. What they don't tell you is how bl**dy difficult it is to process! I've tossed away a lot of earlier attempts

Captured at SRO, 17 Sep - 30 Oct, 2015

Objects in image:
M31, M110, M32, NGC206

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Focuser: Atlas
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: Lodestar II / Tak guide scope
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel (drizzled to higher res)
Exposures: 20x1200s + 6x60s R, 17x1200s + 6x60s G, 19x1200s + 6x60s B, 27x1800s Ha (~32.5 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

Acquisition credit: John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Leonardo Orazi, Rob Pfile, Rick Stevenson and Jerry Yesavage.
Processing credit: Rick Stevenson

High res version on Astrobin (check out the 1:1): http://www.astrobin.com/full/223013/0/

The attached images show the location of M31-V1, the Cepheid Variable used by Hubble to calculate the approximate distance of the Great Andromeda Nebula and finally prove that it was a separate galaxy distant from the Milky Way (thanks to RobF for the idea!)

There's a fascinating atlas of the Andromeda Galaxy here: https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/...as/frames.html

Cheers,
Rick.

Somnium (Aidan) · #2 01-11-2015, 08:58 PM

amazing work Rick ! it looks great

gregbradley · #3 01-11-2015, 09:53 PM

That's a terrific image of M31 Rick. It may have been hard but the results speak for themselves. A shame it didn't all fit in the field of view. The dust lanes are very clear.

Greg.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #4 01-11-2015, 10:03 PM

Well looking at the plethora of subtle bits and pieces throughout the galaxy I am not surprised it may have been difficult to process Rick but the finished product was worth it. Opening the full resolution version on Astrobin was a treat to pan around, great work

Mike

RickS (Rick) · #5 01-11-2015, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnium

amazing work Rick ! it looks great

Thanks, Aidan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a terrific image of M31 Rick. It may have been hard but the results speak for themselves. A shame it didn't all fit in the field of view. The dust lanes are very clear.

Greg.

Thanks, Greg. Yes, we should have done a mosaic but at 30+ hours a panel it's a big commitment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Well looking at the plethora of subtle bits and pieces throughout the galaxy I am not surprised it may have been difficult to process Rick but the finished product was worth it. Opening the full resolution version on Astrobin was a treat to pan around, great work

Mike

Ta, Mike! It's such a huge object full of cool stuff. Everything you could imagine... with the exception of worms

Cheers,
Rick.

Atmos (Colin) · #6 01-11-2015, 10:17 PM

The amount of detail in the galaxy is breath taking, wonderfully done :-)

strongmanmike (Michael) · #7 01-11-2015, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickS

Everything you could imagine... with the exception of worms

Cepheid worms the Step - Reach Relationship

Camelopardalis (Dunk) · #8 01-11-2015, 10:26 PM

Stunning Rick

although could use a bigger sensor to capture the extremities

RB (Andrew) · #9 01-11-2015, 10:31 PM

Wow Rick, the hi res image is amazing, well done.
I can look at that for ages.
Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Well looking at the plethora of subtle bits and pieces throughout the galaxy I am not surprised it may have been difficult to process Rick...
Mike

Mike, is it El Wopo's Birthday already?

Click here to load the video

RB

strongmanmike (Michael) · #10 01-11-2015, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

Wow Rick, the hi res image is amazing, well done.
I can look at that for ages.
Thanks for sharing.

Mike, is it El Wopo's Birthday already?

Click here to load the video

RB

Great scene that

....now, back to Ricks Andromeda Galaxy, great work Rick, a large or excessive amount of stuff (without worms or manufactured dot detail) everywhere

Mike

omegacrux (David) · #11 01-11-2015, 10:50 PM

WOW nice

David

LucasB (Lucas) · #12 01-11-2015, 10:54 PM

What a superb image! Amazing detail and so much to explore. Love it
Lucas

RobF (Rob) · #13 01-11-2015, 11:09 PM

Beautiful work Rick - aesthetically and image quality. Really enjoyed exploring this one. Time invested has paid off handsomely.

Amazing to see where "that star" is located - and that they were able to monitor the light curve of such a distant star at that time.