Andromeda revisited (LHaRGB)

[Uranium235]

It cleared up much earlier than expected last night, so while waiting for Orion I took the opportunity to replace half of the Luminance data from the M31 I took earlier in the year. On inspection of the original data set, I ended up throwing away 14 subs leaving me with barely 2 hours worth of clean data. Seems to have worked - its a bit more "poke yer eye out", brighter, more saturated (but hopefully not too much!).  Its also much easier to process when you have a clean set of data.

When I did eventually get round to Orion, I only had a couple of hours before cloud started rolling in (and got dewed up a bit).

M31:

80ED, Atik 383L+, NEQ6

Thanks for looking!

Rob

 

[tingting44]

thats amazing!! surely a professional quality picture! wonder when you can class your self a pro coming from an amateur, but seriously people would pay good money for a picture like this! well done

[Uranium235]

thats amazing!! surely a professional quality picture! wonder when you can class your self a pro coming from an amateur, but seriously people would pay good money for a picture like this! well done

Thanks, but im always an amateur mate and still learning!

Still a bit of a lesson in why you should look at every sub you take before stacking, especially when the setup is on remote control and im doing other things.

[narrowbandpaul]

Nice strong colours there. Lots to like.

That's a good andromeda you got there

[ollypenrice]

It is good.

You have some slight dark ringing around stars. This often comes from globally applied deconvolution. Could this be it?

I like the colour balance and the way you've gone nicely into the core.

Olly

[Uranium235]

Thanks Olly, I should have checked the stars a bit more closely before letting it go... doh!  (come on, it was 3am when I processed this!)

The dark rings probably came from the combination of high pass filtering and noels local contrast (2 doses) - if you go a bit overboard with it then it can lead to that sort of thing. Probably because I was trying to darken the dust lanes and forgot to use a layer mask to protect the rest of the image. All I need to do is reprocess the Lum (with less haste) and I'll just paste this version in for the colour.

Will get on the case after me Sunday roast

[lensman57]

Hi,

Excellent colours and detail, perhaps a little over sharpened but a great image none the less. looking at Andromeda I always have this impression that the outer regions are bulged and the core region sunken, or I may have to visit the SpecSavers.

Regards,

A.G

[cussine]

Wow, that's fantastic

[Stephen Green]

  That is a great image Rob and great detail 

   Stephen

[johnrt]

When viewed from this angle I agree the core does give an impression of being sunken, almost like the whole galaxy is disappearing down a plug hole in the center. Turn it round 180 degrees and it looks like a lampshade

Some great detail here to be proud of, electric blue outer arms and glowing dust lanes in front of the core. My only criticism is that the background looks a little clipped and could do with being a little brighter, but it's me just picking at a great image!

[Uranium235]

Thanks guys! Im just updating the file now with one where the filtering and contrast enhancing has been done on an inverted star selection. The dark rings around the stars are much reduced now. Hopefully the link wont be broken by me updating the image.

Oddly enough, I had exactly the same thought when I looked at it for a while - It looks as if M32 is disappearing down an enormous plug hole. Well, in a sense there is an enormous plug hole at the centre of that galaxy

Ahh... its just finished uploading, so hopefully - when I click refresh it should appear.

DOH! Link broken... ohh that sux. Here is the replacement link:

 

[carastro]

Very nice Rob, love the colours, I can never seem to get much colour in this object.  Also like the Ha highlights, this is my current project, but not been able to collect much Ha yet (I have the same kit).  

Carole 

[Uranium235]

Thanks Carole,

I too found it a bit of a problem trying to get colour into it. With the 383, the trick is to shoot extra blue - about 1.4x more than the other two channels. Or if you have an equal number of subs you can scale them according to the g2v test I did a few nights ago with the 383 and 80ED (using just Baader RGB filters).

Red: 0.89

Green: 1.00

Blue: 1.40

Or, if you prefer times (using 600s as standard length):

Red: 534

Green: 600

Blue: 840

But, if youre doing RGB with that camera - have a go at binning. It actually works with the 80ED! You can rescale the Lum by 0.75x and the binned RGB by 1.5x and still get quite satisfactory results - just take care with the flats as they are quite tricky (they need to be 6s minimum to avoid the shutter).

Oh, I forgot to mention - the gain factor for the 383L+ when 2x2 binning is x2.23, that effectively halves your subs lengths so you can take that into consideration when planning your imaging session.

[Hawklord]

Lovely image Rob

[Martin-Devon]

Lot's of punch and great colours in this M31 - love it!

Martin

[Uranium235]

Thanks Martin and Wayne, if I retain the 80ED (highly likely) then I hope to push it further next year like I used to with the 314 - rolling over subs from one year to the next.

But, all things being well - I might have the 130pds back up and running once I receive the MPCC mark III - if Baader have done what they said they have with the lens coatings, then the reflections I got with the mark II should not be present.

[morimarty]

A brilliant M31 Rob, congrats,

[sologuitarist61]

What a stunning image, you should be well proud of that one!

[Mark72]

Great result, perhaps background is a bit dark but splendid details!

Mark

[Quatermass]

You have drawn a lot of colour out of this one very nice indeed.

[Uranium235]

Mark72, on 07 Jan 2014 - 4:06 PM, said:Mark72, on 07 Jan 2014 - 4:06 PM, said:

Great result, perhaps background is a bit dark but splendid details!

Mark

Thanks Mark,

That was a touch of noels actions to reduce the background levels around the galaxy. I could have left it at is was, but darkening it a bit seemed to make it all pop out a bit more. But I did blur it sufficiently enough to make the transition to the darker areas less abrupt.

The new MPCC arrived today, initial indoor tests indicate that the coatings on the lens elements have eliminated reflections - though until I get it out under a bright star I cant be sure. But the signs are promising.

[x6gas]

That's lovely Rob - congrats!

[JessicaFaye]

Absolutely beautiful, I have never seen that much colour in an M31 image! Gorgeous! I wouldn't mind having something like that as a lampshade!! 

[Uranium235]

Thanks Jessica, getting the colour into it was easier said than done!  

But I've learned a few lessons for next time round on this one, like shoot more blue and tightening the stars enough to keep it sharp - but not throttling them (as I did on my first attempt). I'd like to get some proper time on this next year (10 hours+), or hit it with a faster focal ratio.

Im currently experimenting with binning on the 383, and with the 130pds I get a borderline 3.5" p/p at 2x2. Last night was clear for a short spell (just after stargazing live oddly enough!) - so I was able to test new coma corrector (Baader MkIII) and binning on the horsehead. No more internal reflections now, just a bit of coma - which can be worked on with the spacing (I think mine was a bit short).

[carastro]

Thanks for your earlier reply regarding colour.  I did try using binning once, but I found it caused a lot more headache with extra flats, darks and bias and didn't find it easy re-sizing the images to match, so decided not to do that again, but could be my inexperience.

With the severe lack of clear skies here I am hoping to go for Mono for detail and OSC for RGB, but have yet to put this into regular practice as I was having problems with my QHY8L and disconnecting, but I've fitted a retainer clip to it now.  Just need sufficient clear skies to get down to some serious imaging and also opportunities to go to dark skies.

Carole