First Attempt at M31 Andromeda Galaxy

[Stub Mandrel]

I don't think the moon or local LP was doing me any favours last night, but I managed to get 10 subs of M31.

I know that it's badly cropped (once set up I wasn't going to change scope!), the ISO1600 has caused grainyness and the moonlight/LP has caused a gradient, but you can at least see hints of dark lanes.

I'm sure I can do better - not least by better polar alignment (more patience and an LED to illuminate the reticle) which should let me use ISO800, a longer exposure and a smaller scope when it has moved round into less polluted sky.

But it's proven a point, and even without 100% alignment I've doubled the length of my subs (went up to 70seconds on one target).

[udaiveer]

Nice. I just tried to do the same. N I too can just about see the dark lanes!!

The moon is too bright (for me in India) to try anything before 3am! So no AP.

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[udaiveer]

It feels real nice to see your image of m31 with all the imperfections "that I know of.."

These are 4 subs of 2mins on canon 6D 300mm f5.6 1600

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[xtreemchaos]

nice one mate,cool image.thanks for posting. charl.

[Stub Mandrel]

Hi Udaiveer,

I was going to try a 700mm scope, but looking at your picture even my 400mm lens might be a bit long for it!

[gnomus]

Hi Udaiveer,

I was going to try a 700mm scope, but looking at your picture even my 400mm lens might be a bit long for it!

For many reasons, it is best to start with a shortish f/l. I have an ED80 (600mm), but I use a reducer to get it down to ~520mm or thereabouts. I am contemplating something even shorter (less than 400mm). Your image is pretty decent for only 700 seconds (assuming I understood correctly). You have proved that you can get good focus. Shooting flats will help with gradients. You should also think about Bias (easy) and Dark (bit of a pain) frames.

The next step is longer subs. I suspect it is only a matter of time before you start thinking about guiding!!!!

[ian_bird]

(more patience and an LED to illuminate the reticle)

Hi

Check out my post in this thread. A self illuminating reticle eyepiece for zero pounds!

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/203018-cross-hair-eyepice/

Cheers

Ian

[Stub Mandrel]

I will use the little 70x700 scope next time and see what happens, hopefully no clouds in a week or two when the moon is less of an issue. The guiding might be better with the much lighter scope as well. Lens wise I have 500 and 400mm (300 would have been handier) and then a big jump doen to 135. I suppose I could put the 2x teleconverter on the 135...

I do darks, because my DSLR is old and seems to have a lot of hot pixels. I tend to forget flats at the start of a session due to eagerness, and at the end I am too tired, but I can see the need for them.

I'm already thinking about guiding, but my webcam isn't sensitive enough (either that or its FOV is too small).

[Stub Mandrel]

Hi

Check out my post in this thread. A self illuminating reticle eyepiece for zero pounds!

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/203018-cross-hair-eyepice/

Cheers

Ian

I see the idea - but not very practical with a polar scope?

[ian_bird]

I see the idea - but not very practical with a polar scope?

Ah! Sorry - missed that bit. My bad.

How about drift alignment? I hate polar scopes. They are a right pain in the neck! (Pun intended).

Cheers

Ian

[gnomus]

I will use the little 70x700 scope next time and see what happens, hopefully no clouds in a week or two when the moon is less of an issue. The guiding might be better with the much lighter scope as well. Lens wise I have 500 and 400mm (300 would have been handier) and then a big jump doen to 135. I suppose I could put the 2x teleconverter on the 135...

I do darks, because my DSLR is old and seems to have a lot of hot pixels. I tend to forget flats at the start of a session due to eagerness, and at the end I am too tired, but I can see the need for them.

I'm already thinking about guiding, but my webcam isn't sensitive enough (either that or its FOV is too small).

Bias frames are really easy to do. They can be done quickly, and can be reused. Flats are a bit of a nuisance, but they don't take too long once you have a system for doing them. I think flats are extremely important. I'd leave out darks before I left out flats.

[udaiveer]

Gnomus,

I did Bias Flats and Darks.

This is the central 1/3 of the image I got from the camera.

I did 3x Drizzle enlarge when stacking in DSS.

But I don't get good results when I use CR2s in DSS this was CR2 to tiff to DSS

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[gnomus]

Hi Udaiveer

The key thing is the amount of data you collect.  Your image is a good start - you can definitely see some dust lanes.  However, if I have understood correctly, you only have 8 minutes of data.  There is only so much you can do with 8 minutes.  

I am not sure about the benefits of drizzling x3 and cannot comment on that.  I would gather considerably more data before you crop - it is surprising what you might be able to pull out once you have a decent amount of subs stacked.

You can get good results from the Canon files.  I make no great claim for my image (attached), but there is at least some detail here.  This is what you can expect to produce if you collect around 105 minutes of data with a Canon 600D: