M31

[anthony]

Hi,

Another M31 for the pages but it is in fact the first time I have tried to image this galaxy as at present I have the kit to give me the FOV. I just can't get the colours to my satisfaction but feel that no LPR and no flats means that I will continue to struggle regardless. Took this last weekend and it comprises 10x5min subframes SBIG ST4000XCM and WO 80mm TRF2008.

There is a larger (but still reduced) version here http://www.astrophotography.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/1224326502_orig.jpg

Anthony

[mik]

Well thats nice

Mick

[Sam]

A very nice M31!

[anthony]

Cheers Guys

Forgot to say - if anyone fancies a tweak, then please feel free. I'd be delighted to see any improvements in colour or hotspot.

Anthony

[SteelRat]

A for A 8) That's a sweet image - real nice work.

[LostNSpace]

Another very nice M31, you should be pleased as punch with that result Anthony........

Mark

[Tim]

Really like that one actually! The colours of the stars are great, and the dust lanes in the foreground are showing as well.

I'd have a play if you like, prefer to do so with the original Tiff from DSS though.

TJ

[trudie]

Great image Anthony, this is one of my favourites, and despite what anyone thinks, I can never see enough of any images.

Trudie

[anthony]

Really like that one actually! The colours of the stars are great, and the dust lanes in the foreground are showing as well.

I'd have a play if you like, prefer to do so with the original Tiff from DSS though.

TJ

Cheers. I have looked at the TIFF (it fell out of Maxim) but it is 22mb!!! I have resized it to about half the dimensions and now its 4mb. How about a high quality jpeg?

Anthony

[Psychobilly]

HI Ant thats a really nice M31

I'm still to get an M31 taht I am really happy with but hopefully a new toy next week....

You can upload the 22MB TIff to UKAstronomers... jsut takes a while and sometime it can be a right PITA....

TJ is right you really need the Hires Hi bit depth uncompressed data to get teh best out of the processing or in this case re-processing...

Anyone got a foolproof method for uplaoding big files?

Billy...

[barkis]

It is a splendid image Anthony. Classic M31, A lovely widefield and beautiful star colours.

You can be very pleased with this one.

Ron.

[MartinB]

Lovely job Anthony. You got a great result from 50 mins cos those outer bits are pretty dim. I think you've made the right decision not pushing things too hard. The dust lane detail is great. I had a look at the jpeg. Obviously you can't really do much stretching of things with a jpeg but I was able to get rid of most of the gradients with gradient exterminator. Tweaked the colour a bit and also applied a small gausian blur to the curve to reduce the burn't out look right at the core.

The jpeg blocky jpeg artefacts are starting to appear now - square stars etc

(click to enlarge)

[Cloudwatcher]

Had a try using Hue/Saturation,Exposure and Color Match tools in photoshop........... More detail showing up on my screen in the galaxy but those nicely coloured stars Ron mentioned now look a bit pale I'm afraid. :oops: CW Oooops. Sorry clicked on the image twice!

[MikeD]

looking good Ant , looks like you are enjoying the cam.

I had a play with the jpg too, pixinsight le's Dynamic background extraction for the gradient and colour balance and then some stretching and so on in PSP.

Mike.

[anthony]

Nicely done with just the jpeg there guys.

Martin - very nice and good to see the gradient exterminated.

CW - I reckon somewhere between Martin and your versions is probably as much as this data will offer.

Aiming for it again tonight if the cloud clears. Darks collecting at the mo' and almost ready for flats.

Anthony

[anthony]

Well there we go. Whilst typing my last post, Mike got the somewhere between the two!

Anthony

[anthony]

!