wide field M31

[shifter]

I nearly didn't do any imaging last night as the mount started playing up,, firstly the goto wouldn't.... it kept insisting that Almaak was Mirach for some reason, anyway after a few restarts it finally got the right star so now I could get down to business........errr no not to be, after slewing to Vega to do the obligatory focusing I took a quick 3 sec exposure just to confirm all was right.... I had star trails....Oh b***er I thought, I'm gonna have to take the motors off and check the tiny tiny grub screws that lock the gears to the drive....oh happy days.....Ok so motors off grub screws checked (not one of them was loose by the way....typical innit) I did find a bit to much play in the backlash so i adjusted that, motors replaced redo a 2 star alignment, slew to Vega, focus, 2 sec exposure..........star trails still there...Grrrrrrr. So I did another 2 sec exp just to see if it was still sliding, Ah, it settled down, everything nice and still. I still don't know what's causing it but carried on regardless. So here's the first of a few I managed to capture.

.....Brian.....

(click to enlarge)

[barkis]

Well it was certainly worth the hassle you went through Brian. That is a wonderful M31.

I do love to see the whole extent of this galaxy. It really is a beaut.

Ron.

[mik]

Well done Brian good work.

Mick.

[dogfish]

That's a lovely Andromeda. Nice colour in the stars.

Thanks for sharing.

Martin

[steppenwolf]

Excellent, Brian, well taken, despite your problems on the night.

[MartinB]

Oh god the hassle sounds so familiar - and all the time you're fumbling in the dark and just waiting for clouds to roll in at any moment. Never mind, you have picked up some amazing detail in the dust lanes. Just need to tone down the core a bit