Andromeda Galaxy

[The_Sarge]

Hi all,

Yet another M31 image for everyones consideration, it is that time of year.

Been away from the telescope far too much over the last 18 months but finally getting some time to do some imaging.

Images taken over several nights mid november with the FSQ106ED, Baader filters and STT-8300M.

69x5min Lum

18x5min each RGB

18x10min Ha

Captured with SG Pro, Stacked in DSS and processed in PI.

 

All comments, hints and suggestions welcomed.

 

Sarge.

[JemC]

Never get tired of seeing this galaxy, 

i think you have done a good job with this capture, it does however to my eyes seem a little bright on the core, 

[Trevor N]

Spot on. Great image

[Ryan_86]

Unbelievable espevially hiw you have revealed its nebula regions. Well done!!!

Cheers

Ryan

[The_Sarge]

11 hours ago, Ryan_86 said:

Unbelievable espevially hiw you have revealed its nebula regions. Well done!!!

Cheers

Ryan

Thanks Ryan,

That's what the hydrogen alpha adds to the image. Blending it into the red channel and very slectively into the luminance brings it out nicely.

 

Paul.

[CCD Imager]

Paul, excellent image. Couple of questions:

Was this taken with the Tak reducer? I have similar data taken a couple of years ago and still haven't processed!

The background doesnt have even colour, I stretched the image which reveals areas of red mostly, some blue and a little green. Did you use PI background extraction technique? I don't have PI, I use Gradient Xterminator which does an excellent job.

[The_Sarge]

44 minutes ago, CCD Imager said:

Paul, excellent image. Couple of questions:

Was this taken with the Tak reducer? I have similar data taken a couple of years ago and still haven't processed!

The background doesnt have even colour, I stretched the image which reveals areas of red mostly, some blue and a little green. Did you use PI background extraction technique? I don't have PI, I use Gradient Xterminator which does an excellent job.

Yes I used the 0.73x reducer.

I did DBE on all the greyscale masters and then again on the combined RGB after adding the Ha data.

I've run 2 more instances of DBE on the final image, the first removed multiple colours and the second just red. So the background seems pretty neutral now.

Following on from JemC's comment about the core being a bit too bright I've done a HDRMultiscale transform to tame it a little but limited by the fact the core has been blown out a little.

Time permitting I may get some shorter exposures for the core,

 

[cfpendock]

Nice one!

Chris

[Ryan_86]

Phwoah!!!!! Even sweeter Sarge???

Cheers

Ryan

[darren west]

that is stunning 

can i nick it for my screensaver please

[The_Sarge]

6 minutes ago, darren west said:

that is stunning 

can i nick it for my screensaver please

Yes, sure you can.

[morimarty]

Lots of detail in the spiral arms Superb Image.

[tomato]

Stunning, I really like  the Ha regions.

[The_Sarge]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Pleased with this one it's a big improvement over my first Andromeda attempt a few years back.

Paul.

[knobby]

What I love about this forum is the massive range of ability / results you see posted ... And the candor of the critique that's given, your image is superb ! and yet still people can point out that ' the core is bright ' ' uneven background' 

Comments could be taken as criticism quite easily but I love the fact that we're all learning together and that's how the comments are taken, like a bunch of mates in the pub chatting 

[Filroden]

On 22/11/2017 at 17:17, The_Sarge said:

Time permitting I may get some shorter exposures for the core,

It’s already a good result but if you do want to revisit the core you may not need additional subs. Process a second version from the original data but only stretch it to get a pleasing core. You could then blend the two images using the HDR process.