First guided astrophoto M31

[Liliensternus]

Hello,

This is my the result of my first guided astrophotography session. So far i have only taken a few other photos on an NEQ5 mount with a canon 300D without guiding so i am thrilled at the difference guiding makes on an image.

Canon 500D, ED80 with 0.75x reducer, guided with 70/250mm guidescope and Meade DSI 1/ PHD guiding on an NEQ6 mount.

Lights - 22, 5 min subs, iso 800

Darks - 22

Offset/Bias - 22

Stacked in DSS and processed in PS using the books by Jerry Lodriguss and DugDogs tutorials on youtube.

Did not pull on the histogram too much and would prefer another 22 subs at 10 minutes to pull out the periphery.

Had one hell of time with saturation because it was set to 0 in DSS and took me a while to realize it.

Hope you like it and i await your criticisms.

[Piers127]

That's amazing! I have a 550d and was starting to think I would never get decent astro shots through it, but you've renewed my enthusiasm! Is your 500D modded at all?

[astro mick]

Very impressive.Not too much critism from me at all.

Maybe the background is a little light,but still does not detract from a lovely image.

Mick.

[Hairycamel]

Looks fabulous to me. I have just got myself a Nikon D3100 and cant wait to get out there and try it out. If I eventually get anything like your M31 in the future, then it will all have been worth it.

[Black Knight]

Yeah, the default 0 saturation level in DSS trips up a lot of people, including me! Really nice looking image, well done! . Did you take flats as well?

[ianaiken]

What do you recommend saturation be upped too before saving the image for processing in PS? Or does it typically depend on the stacked image?

I've been trying to process some images from M31 and having a hard time extracting the detail, although I think I need to get some flats (too late now its not a permanent setup).

[Bizibilder]

Set the saturation at around 20% in DSS - I often save several images at 10%, 15% and 20% so I can go back and use them if I don't like what I'm seeing.

That is an exellent image - well done - you have got quite a bit of the faint outer structure.

[malc-c]

Lovely image - I wish I could get M31 like that.... Oh hummm !

[ianaiken]

Thanks Bizibilder, big help.

[psemil]

Great photo. I like it very much.