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Need tips on processing M31 The Andromeda Galaxy


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Welcome to SGL! Very nice first image, I would say. I think the contrast stretching has been overdone a bit, but you clearly have captured some good detail there. Less contrast stretch would prevent blowing out the core, and making the background a bit darker will make noise in the background less intrusive. Maybe you could tell a bit more about the equipment and the processing used (did you use dark frames, flats, etc). In that way we can give more sensible advice. I do not know what camera you used, but in many cameras (like my EOS 450D (long gone), 550D, and 700D) I found 800 ISO worked better than 1600. The faint outer regions of M31 need a lot of data to get really well, and my best shot to date used more than three hours of data at F/3.5 (and could still use more). I also have a feeling there is a slight colour gradient across the image, which can be corrected either by flats and darks, or by light pollution removal tools (I use Astro Pixel Processor's tool for that).

No doubt others, far more knowledgeable in DSO imaging than me will give more comments soon

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Thank you I will make sure to do this. Last night I took 60x 30 seconds at iso 1600, 60x 60 seconds at iso 1600, 12x 300 seconds at iso 800, and 12x 600 seconds at iso 800 with my canon 450d with 39 flats and 19 darks. For some reason it looks like this. This was stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, any ideas to make this look better?

jj.jpg

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Processing is a logical process and the way to learn how to do it is to think it through, trying to understand each step. And, yes, there is a lot to learn!

First step would be to buy Steve Richards' processing book. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/dark-art-or-magic-bullet-steve-richards.html

I teach image processing and one golden rule is, 'Don't click! Think!!'

Olly

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The first priority in astrophotography is: invest in processing software, the way you invest in hardware. Don't expect a free lunch in this respect. Good images can be made with a variety of software; photoshop, astro pixel processor, pixinsight, star tools, to name a few.

Processing is at least 50 % of the effort to make an image, but once you have the data, you can try and retry processing as many times as you like.

Three important things to keep in mind:

1. Neutral, dark, but not entirely black background

2. Varation in star colour

3. No blown out areas, if they weren't already blown out in the subs.

Apply these principles to your images, and you'll see an improvement.

Good luck, and have fun.

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