M31- well some of it

[pyrasanth]

M31 is big........I mean really big. I could not yet the whole galaxy into the RASA field of view. I am saving for a wider field camera- the Atik 11000.

I caught some of it with the RASA last night. This is the L data that I've started to capture. Atik 460 EX with loads of 60 sec subs & then another 50 120 second subs. The Sky is never really good in my location for faint details but it is something I live with.

I will capture the colour data using the 490 OSC as I don't yet have a set of filters for the RASA which have been tested as fast enough to give the results I could potentially need. That is still being investigated.

As always let me know what you think. The image looks better big and is as captured. No flat field correction yet & a crop top & bottom.

[Mr Spock]

Nice image. I like the smooth tones and lack of noise.

[xtreemchaos]

lovely image mate.thanks for posting.charl.

[pyrasanth]

Thanks for the encouragement. Here is the flat fielded version which shows a bit more detail.

[sooot]

looking good

[pyrasanth]

There was an error in the flat field correction which I just did. This however has given you the opportunity to see the entire frame as captured by the the RASA. This has the corrected flat field correction. I still have not got over how flat the field is- look at the stars right on the frame edge-as sharp as the center!. CCD inspector is telling me that the collimation is slightly out but I don't see this currently as much of an issue as my seeing is really bad so I don't think I will ever get totally round stars!

[orion25]

Beautiful image. I could look at it all night. Really dreamy.

Reggie

[MarsG76]

That look great... The dust lane just calls out... If you spun it 90 degrees you'd get a fair bit more of it in the frame.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice subtle detail in those dust bands

[laudropb]

Very nice image. The detail in the dust lanes is very good. Thanks for posting.

[pyrasanth]

Thanks for the encouragement. Glad you like the image. This is only the L data so there is much work to do.

I also understand that the M33 is rich in HA clumps so I will do a separate HA channel & see if I can blend it when I put the RGB data together. I will not rush the data as this has the makings of a nice image.

I am really pleased I captured the problematic L data with very little noise- that's a first for me but the Astrodon Celestron light pollution reject filter seems to be doing a good job- it has to- it costs the price of a good small refractor!

[theo]

This sure does have the makings of a very fine image. Great detail in the dust lanes as already mentioned. Well worth spending the time (and to grab that Ha data) to complete this one!!

Regards,

Pete

[pyrasanth]

I have captured a new set of data- the red & the HA. I won't post the RGB data until I have had a chance to flat field correct it as it's a bit noisy currently. However I captured 65 120 sec subs with the Baader HA filter last night & despite the moon it shows promise. If I get good conditions tonight I hope to at least double the HA data.

The HA data shows lots of nice clumps forming so I look forward to increasing the density with more subs. I will go after the green & blue data next clear session when the moon is out of the way.

As always let me know what you think. Until I get a wider camera I'm somewhat confined to the middle of the galaxy unless I go mosaic which only increases my pain!

Open the file big to see the clumpy HA data beginning to be resolved.

[pyrasanth]

I captured 9 hours of HA data. I currently only have the red (which is not flat fielded) the L & the HA- both flat fielded. I put these together to check progress & frankly I was amazed at the dust lanes showing a 3D effect. I just need to capture the blue & green to the same standard (hoping next week) then I can put it all together. Excuse the odd colours for the test image below as it is only made of HA, L & red.

Let me know how you think it's progressing.

Again its an image best downloaded and looked at big