M31 Andromeda Galaxy LRGB

[ChrisLX200]

This is not really turning out how I expected, not sure what's wrong but perhaps it's the colour balance which isn't right. Anyway, I'll have to walk away and think for a bit but I'm posting what I have so far..

The full res version is here (hit the (+) button top-right) : http://s970.photobucket.com/user/ChrisLX200/media/Astro - Images G4-16000/M31 LR_B 001_zpsjksrjyzf.jpg.html

ChrisH

 

[Mr_42tr0nomy]

I think the colors look phenomenal. Great structure. I would be very happy with this as a finished product!

[ChrisLX200]

Thanks! However I think I have it - the Red channel was biasing the overall colour. I corrected it below

Full-res again: http://s970.photobucket.com/user/ChrisLX200/media/Astro - Images G4-16000/M31 LR_B 002_zpsayl1fbud.jpg.html

ChrisH

[kendg]

Much better. Very nice job on the image. 

[Knighty2112]

Great image of an old favourite. I'd be very happy with either image. Well done!  

[ollypenrice]

A lovely and very unforced-looking M31, convincing from the outer glow to the core.

Olly

[ChrisLX200]

43 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

A lovely and very unforced-looking M31, convincing from the outer glow to the core.

Olly

Thanks Olly, I'm pleased you noted the 'glow' - its extent surprised me (and it is all Galaxy, not a masking artifiact )  Overall I think it lacks a punchy dynamic range, and core detail is not showing (that image info is in the data - with over 120K well depth despite it being bright I can see it but I just failed to pull it out).

I have made a start on the Ha channel which looks bright and has good structure. I have in mind collecting both Ha and OIII, creating a red-blue bi-colour, and somehow combining that result with the LRGB. Probably not a great idea but different and... fun

ChrisH

[Gina]

Well I can't see anything wrong with that - lovely image

[StargeezerTim]

Thats beautiful... Makes my effort look very lacking in comparison... Excellent!

[ollypenrice]

4 hours ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Thanks Olly, I'm pleased you noted the 'glow' - its extent surprised me (and it is all Galaxy, not a masking artifiact )  Overall I think it lacks a punchy dynamic range, and core detail is not showing (that image info is in the data - with over 120K well depth despite it being bright I can see it but I just failed to pull it out).

I have made a start on the Ha channel which looks bright and has good structure. I have in mind collecting both Ha and OIII, creating a red-blue bi-colour, and somehow combining that result with the LRGB. Probably not a great idea but different and... fun

ChrisH

The glow is very real indeed. (I laid seige to the blessèd thing a couple of years ago...) I know you're not a mosaic fan but if you want to explore the full extent of it you'll need two panels even on your chip. It has an interesting upturned end on one side.

Olly

[swag72]

I think that the detail you have in the dust lanes is superb

[ChrisLX200]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

The glow is very real indeed. (I laid seige to the blessèd thing a couple of years ago...) I know you're not a mosaic fan but if you want to explore the full extent of it you'll need two panels even on your chip. It has an interesting upturned end on one side.

Olly

Drat. It's not that I'm against mosaics per se, just that here in Macclesfield we simply don't get the required number of clear skies to make the effort viable. I think I've used over a month's allowance already on this!

ChrisH

[ChrisLX200]

59 minutes ago, swag72 said:

I think that the detail you have in the dust lanes is superb

Thanks Sara, I was aiming for that more than anything The Ha component also looks exciting - but whether I can blend the two is another matter...

ChrisH

[ChrisLX200]

4 hours ago, Gina said:

Well I can't see anything wrong with that - lovely image

 

4 hours ago, StargeezerTim said:

Thats beautiful... Makes my effort look very lacking in comparison... Excellent!

Thanks Gina and Tim! Glad you like it

ChrisH

[Barry-Wilson]

I've dipped into this thread whilst at work and have been looking forward to seeing your M31 on my home iMac screen.  You really have captured the glow of the core and detail in the dust lanes in a very natural way - excellent Chris.  I know what you mean about the weather and there has been a surprising amount of high thin mist about and you have done well to capture Andromeda in all its glory.

[Ikonnikov]

That's really nice, can I be slightly controversial and say I prefer v1 slightly more (v2 sky background looks a bit too blue at least on my uncalibrated monitor though M31 looks great in both)?!

Out of interest are you binning your RGB subs at this pixel scale?

Paul

[ChrisLX200]

6 minutes ago, Ikonnikov said:

That's really nice, can I be slightly controversial and say I prefer v1 slightly more (v2 sky background looks a bit too blue at least on my uncalibrated monitor though M31 looks great in both)?!

Out of interest are you binning your RGB subs at this pixel scale?

Paul

Thanks, and I think you may be right. However I need to reprocess anyway when I add some narrow band channels so have not bothered to refine and post yet another version!

No binning on the RGB - already at 2.8"/pxl here so binning 2x2 would be too coarse.

ChrisH

[ChrisLX200]

Thanks Barry, makes every clear night very valuable to us, and I doubt this is the final version :-)

ChrisH

[Ikonnikov]

3 minutes ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Thanks, and I think you may be right. However I need to reprocess anyway when I add some narrow band channels so have not bothered to refine and post yet another version!

No binning on the RGB - already at 2.8"/pxl here so binning 2x2 would be too coarse.

ChrisH

Yes I thought as much, was curious as I'm at a similar scale with my wide-field setup (2.85"/pixel) and what you're doing clearly works very well. Received wisdom if I remember correctly generally used to be to do RGB without any L if you're not using binning for the colour but this seems to be old hat now!

Paul

[ChrisLX200]

1 minute ago, Ikonnikov said:

Yes I thought as much, was curious as I'm at a similar scale with my wide-field setup (2.85"/pixel) and what you're doing clearly works very well. Received wisdom if I remember correctly generally used to be to do RGB without any L if you're not using binning for the colour but this seems to be old hat now!

Paul

For many objects you can combine all the LRGB subs into a 'synthetic' luminance channel anyway, so you don't lose any time and perhaps gain through reduced noise. I should add that I have not done so with this data yet but I will later if only to see if there is an improvement (I already have 5 hours Lum now so any improvement is likely to be small).

ChrisH

[ChrisLX200]

Interesting Ha structure in M31, now all I have to do is figure out how to combine the channel data nicely

ChrisH

[Kit]

4 hours ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Interesting Ha structure in M31, now all I have to do is figure out how to combine the channel data nicely

I've combined as follows before: take the red channel on its own and paste it onto the ha as the upper layer with its opacity set between 20 and 40%.  Then take this HaR layer and use it as the red channel to make an HaRGB image. 

 

I've found there's always a compromise to be struck. You'll bring out some lovely red globuly bits (technical term!) that are present in the ha above, but in doing this you can lose some of the lovely detail in the dust lanes.  There's probably a clever way round this though...

 

Kit 

[Mr Spock]

Lovely image quality.

It might be me, but I prefer the first image. The second one looks a bit too blue.

[PhotoGav]

Chris, this is a beautiful rendition of M31. There is a very soft (and I mean that in a fluffy, not an out of focus way!) feel to the galaxy. You've captured a real sense of depth and movement in this image. Superb! I like the way it is developing too, the Ha data looks excellent and will bring out some great star forming region detail in the spiral arms. As for the halo and it's upturned bit at one end, could that be a slight tail to the galaxy as it rushes through space on its inevitable crash course with The Milky Way?!

[toxic]

just 1 word AWESOME