Andromeda

[asteele3]

What do you think? Tried to get the most out of just 1, 30 second exposure?

[Ags]

I think you have clipped the data - chopped off the left-hand side of the histogram, making your sky black but losing the periphery of the galaxy.

Your tracking is not very good - you have a lot of star trailing. If the trails are random (different directions in different subs) then stacking can give you round stars. Alternately, you can make the stars round if they are _slightly_ elongated by doing the following: in Gimp or PS, duplicate your image to a new layer and set the blend mode to Darken. Offset the upper layer by a few pixels along the direction of the trails - presto! Your stars are round.

[asteele3]

Can you have a go at trying to get any waves out of the galaxy. Not much detail in there so how do I try and get more detail in the galaxy?

Thanks for the advice! I'm using an F10 scope and am saving up for a focal reducer and have just ordered a light pollution filter. So hopefully I will have more to go by next time I try.

[JamesF]

Thirty seconds isn't really enough to pick up much more than the core of M31. If you can get up to three or four minutes then you should get better results. Stacking multiple frames would also help a good deal. Tracking first though. You can't really hope to take long exposures or stack images if your tracking is off.

James

[Ags]

I've got a bit of detail at around 30 seconds at F5 (with many subs). But at F10 the equivalent exposure is 120 seconds. The reducer will help with both the exposure times and the tracking.

[asteele3]

Just got a CLS clip filter for my dslr camera. I should be able to get longer exposures tonight with the filter. Anyway, it's going to be CLEAR! Will be taking them in RAW format and I'm only going to concentrate on getting M31 tonight. Got about a 3 hour gap and I've got an early start at work tomorrow.