M31 with a DSLR

[lensman57]

Hi,

This  is nothing special but  I used a DSLR to get the blighter in the frame and short exposures due to very bad seeing and transparency.

31 subs of 180s each, darks, flats, bias. 1100d unmodded. WO ZS 71,  0.8 FF/FR and HEQ5 guided with PHD. Processing is StarTools and PS.

Regards,

A.G

[Stargazer33]

That looks nice A.G. Nice seeing the dust lanes and you haven't lost the galactic centre with your processing.

I tried to image this a couple of nights ago with my 1100D and 75-210mm EF lens also doing 180 sec exposures. I failed miserably. The focus was off and I had the galaxy too small in the frame - I thought that more of the galaxy would show after processing but I think the original size was all there is!

I was guiding with my travelscope 70, Starshoot Autoguider on my CG-5 GT mount using PHD but my dec trace just dropped off of the bottom of the graph as soon as guiding started. So something still isn't right with my guiding!

I have the camera and guide scope mounted side by side on a home made dual mount system.

[mitchelln]

Nice images. Shows what can be achieved with a DSLR

[Astrosurf]

Oh boy, I wish I could get an image like that!

Alexxx

[andyman]

Thats a cracking m31 

[Leveye]

Most excellent work keep them coming!

[lensman57]

Many thanks to you all for encouraging and kind comments. This was a departure for me as I usually use a cooled CCD these days but M31 is collosal in size and there was no way that it would fit entirely on my CCD chip. Perhaps next time I'd use my Baader modded 1000d to get a little more of Ha and Hb in there . I think that the seeing had improved as the hours past by,  since my capture of NGC 6888 with the CCD earlier that evening was nothing to write home about despite the 7 subs of 1200s each.

 Regards,

A.G

[lensman57]

That looks nice A.G. Nice seeing the dust lanes and you haven't lost the galactic centre with your processing.

I tried to image this a couple of nights ago with my 1100D and 75-210mm EF lens also doing 180 sec exposures. I failed miserably. The focus was off and I had the galaxy too small in the frame - I thought that more of the galaxy would show after processing but I think the original size was all there is!

I was guiding with my travelscope 70, Starshoot Autoguider on my CG-5 GT mount using PHD but my dec trace just dropped off of the bottom of the graph as soon as guiding started. So something still isn't right with my guiding!

I have the camera and guide scope mounted side by side on a home made dual mount system.

Hi Bryan,

I am grateful for your comment, I had attempted this target about 6 weeks ago using my modded 1000d ( my first time )  but the  results were disgusting, nothing but noise and horrible gradients despite the 300s subs, perhaps for a DSLR and my location 300s is just long. This was my third attempt . If you have your scope and guider mounted side by side  then you have to make sure that the balance is spot on in every orientation otherwise the guiding will be off.

Regards,

A.G

[alan potts]

This is nothing special, what rubbish, it's excellent vey well done. It does just go to show what can be done with a DSLR, it's high time I tried my modded 40D.

Alan

[lensman57]

This is nothing special, what rubbish, it's excellent vey well done. It does just go to show what can be done with a DSLR, it's high time I tried my modded 40D.

Alan

Your are too kind Sir,

Reagrds,

A.G

[LukeSkywatcher]

Nothing really wrong with that considering. Its a perfectly lovely image.

Bit of an issue of some sort along the left hand side, but i am not qualified to comment more. Perhaps its glow/heat from the camera?

I'd be very proud if that were my image.

[Stargazer33]

Hi Bryan,

... . If you have your scope and guider mounted side by side  then you have to make sure that the balance is spot on in every orientation otherwise the guiding will be off.

Regards,

A.G

Thanks A.G. I'm still playing around with my widefield set-up at the moment. I have also recently tightened up my RA and Dec gears as there was so much backlash, but I think I may have gone too far as it isn't that easy to find the balancing point in either orientation with such light kit.

Once Jupiter comes up at a more reasonable time I will go back to my main scope and try to get some images with that. My problem there is that my C8, dual speed focuser, guide scope & camera and my DSLR weigh about 9.2 kg and my mount should only hold a maximum 7 kg for AP!

With the dreaded 'C' word coming up I may ask for money, sell my CG-5 GT & and put it towards upgrading my mount to an HEQ5 Pro!

[lensman57]

Nothing really wrong with that considering. Its a perfectly lovely image.

Bit of an issue of some sort along the left hand side, but i am not qualified to comment more. Perhaps its glow/heat from the camera?

I'd be very proud if that were my image.

Hi Luke,

Many thanks and Yes you are right but it is not amp glow, I just did not take the time to push the software to sample the background 100% so there is a little enevenness on the top left and a little at the right edge. erhaps a pass with gradient xterminator  in PS would do it in the next reprocess.

Regards,

A.G

[Twisted Lip]

Top job chap, looks excellent, especially for unmodded. If I may ask how did you focus the DSLR? I ask because if I go without the scope (and therefore the Bahtinov mask) I really struggle to focus the stars to pinpoint accuracy unless I have it all hooked up to the lappy and am focusing remotely and looking on max magnification on a relatively large screen.

Will

[Jammy]

Wow that's really good!

I imaged M31 at 30 sec exposures totalling 15 mins and thought mine looked pretty good, but its nothing like this.  Your image has inspired me to have another try.

 Did you do all the exposures in one session?  Can you add several sessions together to increase exposure, or will this give star rotation?

[Space Dragon]

i've never heard a galaxy referred to as a blighter before.......:-)

Wonderful image as well.

[Guy Wells]

Lovely image. Congratulations.

[lensman57]

Top job chap, looks excellent, especially for unmodded. If I may ask how did you focus the DSLR? I ask because if I go without the scope (and therefore the Bahtinov mask) I really struggle to focus the stars to pinpoint accuracy unless I have it all hooked up to the lappy and am focusing remotely and looking on max magnification on a relatively large screen.

Will

Hi,

I am sorry for the late response. I use the FWHM measurements in APT focus aid with the liveview activated. It doesn't always give the best focus but generally it is fine.

A.G

[lensman57]

Wow that's really good!

I imaged M31 at 30 sec exposures totalling 15 mins and thought mine looked pretty good, but its nothing like this.  Your image has inspired me to have another try.

 Did you do all the exposures in one session?  Can you add several sessions together to increase exposure, or will this give star rotation?

Hi,

Yes I did all the exposures in a single session. You can add several sessions together, but this will not add exposure time. You can combine short exposure stack with a long exposure stack in PS or other ASTRO software to emulate an HDR capture,  but if you want to bring out faint detail  then long exposure is the only way, subject to your sky's  seeing, LP and background glow. The more frames you stack, the smoother the end result but there is no point going over 30 odd frames unless the camera is extremely noisy.

Regards,

A.G

[lensman57]

i've never heard a galaxy referred to as a blighter before.......:-)

Wonderful image as well.

Only because of the way it gets treated, it is very large, the core is very bright but is very difficult to image well so it gets abused.LOL

Many thanks and regards,

A.G

[Space Dragon]

Only because of the way it gets treated, it is very large, the core is very bright but is very difficult to image well so it gets abused.LOL

Many thanks and regards,

A.G

I bet it'll get called worse when it's ploughing into our own galaxy in millions of years time :-)

if we survive that long ......of course.

Someone posted a mock up of what it might look like in the night sky......you wouldn't need a telescope......put it that way.