Andromeda M31 First Attempts

[Mogfor]

Started imaging for the first time in June and have had a very steep but enjoyable learning curve over the last couple of months.  Attached is my first serious attempt at Andromeda, by serious I mean multiple images stacked and edited in Photoshop.  Would be great to get some feedback on how I can improve things and make the most of my current setup (before upgrading my existing camera).  My current setup is a SkyWatcher ED80 on a Celestron AVX mount with an unmodified Canon 750D.  For guiding I’m just using a simple ASI178MC attached to a ZWO miniscope and PHD2 which seems to work ok (most of the time) for the short 400mm focal length of the main scope. For image capture i’m Using Backyard EOS which seems to work well fro my current needs.  Images are the stacked in DeepSkyStacker and cleaned up in Photoshop.

Image was created from 41 x 5min exposures at ISO1600, 31 x 5min dark frames at ISO1600.  No flats or bias.

All constructive criticism happily received.

Rob

[Adreneline]

Very nice Rob.

I have found that taking a number of short exposure with my 70D + BYEoS and using layers in PS helps to bring out the detail in the very core region. I have taken exposures as short as 15, 30 and 60s to help me control the centre. I also found ISO800 more than enough. Experimenting is all part of the fun.

Good luck!

Adrian

[Mogfor]

16 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Very nice Rob.

I have found that taking a number of short exposure with my 70D + BYEoS and using layers in PS helps to bring out the detail in the very core region. I have taken exposures as short as 15, 30 and 60s to help me control the centre. I also found ISO800 more than enough. Experimenting is all part of the fun.

Good luck!

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, yes the core was very washed out so will try adding in some shorter exposures at a lower ISO as a new layer.  The core also seems to yellow to me so hopefully it will address this as well.