Can M31 be imaged with narrowband filters?

[Martin-Devon]

There's a possibility of a (rare) clear night this evening in the South West and I want to have my first try at imaging M31. At the moment I just have a narrowband set of filters - so my question is whether M31 is a good or bad target with these?

[shaunster]

Simple answer is no. Some galaxies respond well to Ha only but i've never seen M31 imaged in that way.

[fatwoul]

Not only that, but I'd be very surprised if you could fit M31 into the FOV offered by your Ikharus/314 combo. I've tried with my ED80 (focal length 600mm, I think) and my 314, and M31 definitely needs to be mosaic'd.

[Martin-Devon]

OK - thanks for the feedback. If the weather holds, then I'll try NGC 281 (Pacman nebula) instead.

[Whippy]

OK - thanks for the feedback. If the weather holds, then I'll try NGC 281 (Pacman nebula) instead.

Good choice Martin, it should be a nice fit with your setup.

Galaxies can have Ha data added to them togther with your mono and colour data. It's added to the Red channel to give the areas of emission nebulae in the galaxy a bit of a boost. As an example, here's my M51 with LRGB and LR(Ha)GB.

Tony..