M 31 Andromeda Galaxy, 41 hours and 27megapixel mosaic

[Grinde]

Hi guys!

I finally managed to decide I'm done processing my insane photoproject of digging deep inside M31.

Long story short: One picture of M31, 27megapixel 2x2 mosaic, +3 months of imaging in crappy weather, 18 separate nights, 534 separate exposures, +150 hours of processing, 1233 manually annotated objects inside M31.

(images in the end of this post, lots of "bla bla" first)

I had a great start last autumn with loads of clear nights, which made me think it be a quick stab to make a 2x2 mosaic (my first mosaic btw) of M 31 since my f.o.v is to narrow to capture M31 in one frame...

But pretty much as soon as I started, the swedish weather turned into a mess which made me shoot M31 during 18(!) separate nights, during more than 3 months(!).

I also spent countless of hours studying the M31 Atlas available online at: http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/ANDROMEDA_Atlas/frames.html

It contains +40 annotated plates of M31 captured with Kitts Peak 4m telescope and contains +1000 globular clusters, open clusters, stellar ascossiations and dust-clouds inside M31.

By looking at those charts, I manually annotated 1233 objects in my image, along with names & outlines (except for dustcloud-names, since it cluttered the image too much)

Here's what I found within my image:

232 Globular Clusters

235 Open Clusters

140 Stellar Assosciations

626 Dust Clouds

Data captured using ACP + Scheduler

Calibration was done in Maxim, registration & stacking + mosaic-merging done in PI, the rest in photoshop.

Gear:

Telescope: Orion Optics AG12

Camera: QSI 583 wsg-8

Mount: 10Micron GM 2000 HPS

Guiding: Unguided

Summary of exposures:

Lum: 364 x 180s / 1092 minutes

Red: 39 x 300s / 195 minutes

Green : 36 x 300s / 180 minutes

Blue : 43 x 300s / 215 minutes

Ha : 52 x 900s / 780 minutes

Total time: 2462 minutes / 41 hours

Here are a few 100% crops so you can appreciate the level of resolution and the hard work behind it.

(note Hubbles famous Cepheid, marked as "Var 1")

Also, here's one of the charts used for annotation along with a matching crop from my image:

If you're not using a mobile device, I highly recommend following the links to my homepage where the image is presented in full resolution along with selectable annotation-layers containing the following:

Globular Clusters

Open Clusters

Dark Nebulae

Stellar Associations

Grid + DSO's

It was really mind-boggling processing a image of this scale, realizing that all those fuzzy spots visible inside the galaxy are actually open clusters and globular clusters, along with Ha-regions and much more!

Unfortunately mobile devices usually downscale the huge 27MP resolution images and have trouble with the annotation-layers, so if you're using a computer(highly recommended), click the following images to be taken to my homepage where you can select which layers of annotation to be displayed, as well as the choice of 3 different resolutions. Otherwise there are direct-links to all versions below the images in this thread.

Direct-links to images, No annotation:

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Med_102.jpg - (1024px width)

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Large_102.jpg - (3500px width)

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Full_102.jpg  - (+6000px width)

Direct-links to images, Annotated:

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Med_102_Annotated.jpg - (1024px width)

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Large_102_Annotated.jpg - (3500px width)

http://www.grinderphoto.se/pics/Full_102_Annotated.jpg  - (+6000px width)

Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoy exploring all the details in this fantastic galaxy!

Best Regards

Jonas Grinde

http://www.grinderphoto.se

[JohnC64]

The best   M31 I have EVER  seen!!!!!!!!  Stunningly impressive piece of work.

John

[nmoushon]

This is just fantastic! I can't believe the amount of detail you have achieved in this. Simpley amazing. This was a HUGE undertaking that clearly shows the amount of time that you put into it. My jaw dropped when I saw the first 100% crops.

Btw why did you choose to do 180sec Lum over a longer exposure...or is that suppose to be 1800sec?

[davedownsouth]

Just Wow

[Grinde]

The best   M31 I have EVER  seen!!!!!!!!  Stunningly impressive piece of work.

John

Thanks for your compliments John, I'm very happy you enjoyed my work

This is just fantastic! I can't believe the amount of detail you have achieved in this. Simpley amazing. This was a HUGE undertaking that clearly shows the amount of time that you put into it. My jaw dropped when I saw the first 100% crops.

Btw why did you choose to do 180sec Lum over a longer exposure...or is that suppose to be 1800sec?

Thanks!! It feels like I've been on a month-long expedition to Andromeda, exploring clusters & dustclouds through a panoramic window, (which is partly the truth as well) and I'm very happy I'm able to share this experience with the rest of you!

Regarding the 3minute subs (180s), That was my maximum exposure-length with the lum filter without overexposing the core of the galaxy, the fast focal-ratio of f/3.8 really speed things up, and since the background sky overpowered the readnoise-level I doubt anything would be gained by going for longer subs. And with my crappy seeing and lots of moving clouds, less data got wasted with the short subs and the stars less bloated and less burned out cores.

[Alien 13]

OMG

Alan

[SkyJamie]

Spine tinglingly spectacular! Congrats on what is a truly stunning image Jonas

[IanWatkins]

Just wow. I've just spent ten minutes looking through the images and blown away by the level of detail here.

Just amazing, thanks you so much for sharing.

Cheers

Ian

[IanL]

Well done, take the rest of the week off!

[nmoushon]

Thanks!! It feels like I've been on a month-long expedition to Andromeda, exploring clusters & dustclouds through a panoramic window, (which is partly the truth as well) and I'm very happy I'm able to share this experience with the rest of you!

Regarding the 3minute subs (180s), That was my maximum exposure-length with the lum filter without overexposing the core of the galaxy, the fast focal-ratio of f/3.8 really speed things up, and since the background sky overpowered the readnoise-level I doubt anything would be gained by going for longer subs. And with my crappy seeing and lots of moving clouds, less data got wasted with the short subs and the stars less bloated and less burned out cores.

I forgot that the AG is at f/3.8...that explains a lot lol. Most people would do long exposures combined with short ones to control the core and just do layer masking in the processing to feather the core out. Is the main reason you didn't use this more common technique because of your clouds and seeing, which I completely understand why it would limit you, or is there another reason why?

[Martin-Devon]

An outstanding piece of work - the detail seen in the full screen/annotated version on the website link from Jonas is just amazing. I've never seen M31 before with this level of resolution, simply astounding.

Martin

[Martoon]

Simply amazing work!

[dannybgoode]

I know little about AP work but that looks truly incredible and can appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it. As good as anything I have seen...

Sent from Lumia 925 via Tapatalk

[oldpink]

those are absolutely stunning images
a lot of dedication in that, you should be well proud of yourself

[lensman57]

This is the result of a  colossal amount of work and a monumental achievement. I can not even begin to appreciate the level of effort and expertise in this production. Congratulations.

Regards,

A.G

[ChrisLX200]

Brilliant image. But... where do you go from here? Your very own DSS perhaps

ChrisH

[codeman]

Amazing amazing amazing work!!!!

[traceh]

Absolutely amazing

[swag72]

Holy Moly!!! Stunning and superb don't even begin to describe this work. Such dedication, it's beautiful Jonas, it really is

[Beyond_Vision]

What a labour of love this really has to be viewed at the maximum resolution to really begin to appreciate the amount of work put into it. This is a real 'reference image' that people will be bench marking theirs to

I personally like the core to be near saturation as this then shows the large dynamic range of M31 giving it a bit of ' body' rather than it being a very flat image. It's possible to not use layered techniques and using HDR wavelet function to bring out the core as in my image below. Jonas 's fantastic high res image gave me chance to confirm some of the features that I have picked up close to the core.

[iksose7]

You sir, are dedicated! Well done on a fantastic bit of work just when i was starting to think M31 images were getting boooring, but now i would love to do something similar someday. Love that second image of those blue star clouds!

[ScottS]

  Now that's commitment for you. Fabulous images.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

I'm stunned and speechless!

What an amazing piece of work! This is pro-level stuff, going beyond amateur level!

The dedication you put into this is really inspiring!

[leemanley]

Surely an APOD !!!
Amazing level of commitment and execution, something to be really proud of there.
Inspiring.

[ScottS]

It's images like this that will make me appreciate these objects so much more when I next see the fuzzy grey smudges through my humble Dob.

I am now in awe!