Beginners go at M31

[AlistairW]

Hello All,

Happy for any comments, only starting out at the moment. Very much a beginner on Photoshop !

Lights 30 @ ISO 800 - 300s

Darks 17 @ ISO 800 - 300s (would have done more but had problems)

Flats 150

Bias 100

Thanks

Alistair

[Owmuchonomy]

150 flats! That's dedication. Good first effort. M31 has a larger dynamic range than most DSOs so it can pay to take one set of lights for the core and another set for the outer regions thereby equipping you to manage the difference in output.

[Mered]

From another beginner, nice image, I'd be really pleased with that!

How did you get the galaxy to stand out against the sky background? On my attempt at M31 earlier this week, I either start blowing out the core or the sky blends into the galaxy edges. I was taking 120 sec subs though, so that may have more to do with it.

Did you process the image as a whole? It was suggested to me to process the galaxy core separately to the stars, which I've yet to try.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice image

[laudropb]

Very nice image. Thanks for posting.

[alan4908]

Hi Alistair 

This looks very good to me !

I'm also a beginner in Photoshop but I've found the free video tutorial given by Scott Rosen (http://www.astronomersdoitinthedark.com/dslr_llrgb_tutorial.php) an excellent way to improve my Photoshop abilities - be warned the video tutorial is over 1 hour long.

Alan

[Scorpius]

Very nice capture - you obviously put a lot of effort into that image - and your effort certainly paid off! Just goes to show - you can never have too much data as I've heard many folks say on this forum...

[Jimtom]

Very nice image Alister. M31 has been shrouded in the LP for me but I'm hoping to bag it soon!

[JamesF]

Very nice.  Do you think there's someone there looking back through a telescope capturing images of the Milky Way?

I think there could be more to come out of that, but as already said you probably have to have a separate set of exposures for the core.

James

[MartinB]

That's a great first image of M31. It's deceptively difficult to process

[glowingturnip]

Very nice.  Do you think there's someone there looking back through a telescope capturing images of the Milky Way?

we must be nearly edge-on to them mustn't we ?  Andromeda being close to Perseus in the Milky Way