M31 first attempt - first light

[Gambero]

Hi!

This is my first light with the TS65APO mounted on the Skywatcher StarAdventurer. I am so happy with the result even if I managed to take only 12 subs before the clouds rolled in.

http://www.astrobin.com/208391/

This are the details:

18x60s lights

20x60s dark

15 flats

50 bias

Canon 70D from Oxford (UK)

I stacked the subs with DSS and processed the result in PS separating the background and stars layer. Comments and suggestions are welcome! I am still learning how to process astropictures and I am not entirely satisfied with the black background.

Gabriel

[xtreemchaos]

thats a great firstlight mate lovely detail,well done.thanks for sharing   charl

[Gambero]

Ops! For some reason I cannot edit my post... the subs are 18 and not 12!

[MikeP]

Edited for you.

[Atreta]

very good, nice processing. how did you separate the background and stars layers?

[Saganite]

That is a lovely image, well done, and thanks for sharing it 

[JohnPh]

Very nice! How well did the star adventurer cope with the weight?

[Gambero]

Thank you for the kind comments!

very good, nice processing. how did you separate the background and stars layers?

I have used the "dust and scratches" PS filter for creating a background layer and then I took the difference between this new layer and the original one for selecting the stars. I tried to follow the procedure described in "The deep-sky imaging primer" by Charles Bracken, I think it is a very good book.

Very nice! How well did the star adventurer cope with the weight?

I have to admit that it coped quite well! I think the exposure could be extended up to 90-120sec with a better tripod and autoguiding. I had to add an additional ~500g counterweight to balance the ra axis while the dec axis was quite unbalanced because of the camera (there is no motor on this axis so I don't think it is a big issue). 

[laudropb]

Very nice first attempt. Lots of detail. Thanks for posting.

[toxic]

wow nice first light well done indeed