M31 getting better but still mediocre

[oldpink]

got out last night for the first time in weeks
had great tracking and 10 min exposures were pretty solid
but at anything above 800 iso my histogram was too far to the right
so I settled on 400

started at 180s upped it to 300s then 600s and got a total of just over 2 hrs of data
no darks / flats / bias taken as I was too tired to spend 2 hrs taking them (must build a catalog of them)

sky was reasonably clear but some high whispy cloud was floating about

stacked in DSS and photoshop cs6 to tweak and crop, need to buy Pixinsight as my trial has expired

ED80 imaging - ST80 guiding Canon 600 baader for imaging ASI guiding on the NEQ 6
BYEOS & PHD2

[oldpink]

I'm sure there is a lot more data to bring out, I just don't have the skills in PS to achieve it

[bogdog]

i played a bit with your image (hope you don't mind)

this is what i get from it

nice image,bear in mind i used your png file converted to jpg so won't be brilliant,

you also have a bit of dust or something showing near top (or you caught a black hole  )

[oldpink]

Nice

yeah I have a couple of dust bunnies that my puffer won't shift
need to get a sensor cleaning kit

[sloz1664]

Hi Oldpink,

You need to take flats to take care of those dust bunnies. You can build up a library of Bias and.....darks if you can regulate the temperature of the chip,

as darks are required at the same temp as the lights you've taken. Other than that I would be pleased with that M31.

Note: processing M31 is not as easy as it looks.

Steve

[oldpink]

I normally do take Darks & flats and I did some Bias shots (T Shirt over the scope, but my 200p)
but that night I'd been on the go for over 18 hrs when I called it a day (or night)
to run darks would have taken 3 hrs assuming I took 10 of each at 10, 5 and 3 minutes,
 

[Scott]

I had a look in ps3 and the histograph shows its quite heavily clipped at the black (left) end. I'm sure there is quite a lot of detail lost due to this. 

this is why the sky is very black even in bogdogs stretch. So much to learn, so few opportunities

[Scott]

I normally do take Darks & flats and I did some Bias shots (T Shirt over the scope, but my 200p)

but that night I'd been on the go for over 18 hrs when I called it a day (or night)

to run darks would have taken 3 hrs assuming I took 10 of each at 10, 5 and 3 minutes,

Don't forget, Darks and Bias shots don't have to be taken at the same time as lights. just be sure that the temps are relatively close 

[oldpink]

decided to load it up and have another go in PS

may have pushed it a bit too far and introduced some colour streaks but a lot more detail showing

[oldpink]

Don't forget, Darks and Bias shots don't have to be taken at the same time as lights. just be sure that the temps are relatively close 

not the first time my Canon camera has been in the fridge