M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

[smr]

Hi all,

My second proper attempt at imaging a DSO, and Astrophotography in general. On the kind advice of a fellow SGL forumer (thank you if you're reading) I decided to image M31; partly because I knew that it should be visible from where I was on the East Coast, in relatively dark skies next to the coast and that I have not got a go-to mount. I was relieved to find that my Star Adventurer is infact functioning properly and I was extremely happy to see M31 show up on the back of my Camera... without star trails, on 30 second and 1 minute exposures... (the reason I was relieved being that I stupidly aligned on what I thought was Polaris on a couple of imaging attempts prior to this, earlier this year, not understanding why I was getting star streaks!) Very frustrating but like I said relieved to find that it was user error as opposed to equipment error.

Anyhow I began imaging, then framing M31 as centrally as I could manage, taking a number of different exposures ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds, a couple of good 2 minute exposures were obtained but these were pushing the limits ungudied, and at a 250mm focal length. A few subs were thrown away. I didn't record any bias, flats or dark frames, the latter probably from reading Roger Clarke's theorizing on dark current suppression in 2008+ Canon sensors.  Whether this was a mistake or not I don't know.

The last three days I have tried to get my head around image processing, adjusting the levels and curves a gazillion times, seeing what happens. After numerous attempts I finally got something which I am happy with, and thereafter tried a few different things to bring out colour etc. I have really struggled with this and apart from having a very basic understanding of levels and curves I don't really know what I am doing. That said, and with my limited knowledge of processing here's what I have managed. I figured if I can produce something I am happy with then there must be even more data in this which can be extracted for a better image - in other words I'm certain I haven't extracted the maximum result from the data so I'd be very grateful if I could have some advice as to how I could improve it. By all means I would be happy to upload the stacked image if anyone would like to have a go at doing a better job of stretching and extracting more detail, colours etc.

The exposure length in total isn't mind blowing, it's about an hour and 45 minutes worth. The gear used was my Star Adventurer Mount, Canon 80D unmodded, and lens is the Canon EFS 55-250mm.

Edited August 20, 2018 by smr

[Sunshine]

That’s a beautiful M31 there, id be happy as heck if I took it!

[Knighty2112]

I like it. Looks very natural as if observing it through a scope. If only we could see it by eye so good!  

[smr]

Thanks very much guys. Just wondered if you think it's better with or without the white border, or whether it doesn't really matter. 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by smr

[newbie alert]

Very,very nice and even more impressive is that it's with a camera and lens on a S.A....

Might have to grab my bigger lenses!

[Ouroboros]

That's a really nice image. I like the wider field views you get of M31 with a camera lens. I bet you've learnt a lot taking and processing that image.  

[smr]

Thank you very much guys. Today I tried out Roger Clarke's RNC Colour Stretch to see how it worked. I've read his website a lot, the same articles more than once, so I decided to see if his stretching program worked for me, and also calibrating first which I hadn't done first time around. Please could you tell me which do you prefer, the original or this image...

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by smr

[Ouroboros]

Personally I find the second is a better image. There appears to be more detail. To my taste there is too much red in the galaxy and the stars.  But then I prefer under saturated colour in deep sky images. It's all very subjective. 

[smr]

2 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

Personally I find the second is a better image. There appears to be more detail. To my taste there is too much red in the galaxy and the stars.  But then I prefer under saturated colour in deep sky images. It's all very subjective. 

Thanks very much. I agree that there was a bit too much red, there's not so much I can do about the galaxy's redness without going back to PS and redoing the levels as I think that's where it has been produced so I have tried toning it down and also bringing the crunchiness down by backing off on the clarity and sharpness. I applied a radial filter around the galaxy to also pull back the red saturation on the stars.

 

 

[assouptro]

Lovely images and it looks like you could teach me a thing or two about processing and I’ve been tinkering with this hobby for about 10 years! 

Do you suffer from light pollution where you live? 

Clear skies 

Bryan

[smr]

On 22/08/2018 at 23:59, assouptro said:

Lovely images and it looks like you could teach me a thing or two about processing and I’ve been tinkering with this hobby for about 10 years! 

Do you suffer from light pollution where you live? 

Clear skies 

Bryan

Thanks Bryan, I do have LP where I live but this image was taken under relatively dark skies at a family holiday home we have near the coast. I could see the Milky Way above me quite clearly. With regards to the processing I feel that I am right at the beginning of the learning curve, there are some tremendously talented people on these forums with mesmeric images.

[johneta]

Hi smr,

I agree with the others. Very nice images . I woulda been super proud if that was my first attempt 😔. The last one where you try and get rid of the reds is maybe going backwards from the earlier ones.

You are lucky to see Andromeda.  Im in New Zealand, Andromeda only rises above the horizon by 3degrees at max. Its a dream of mine to catch it.
I had my first go a couple of weeks ago but only got the core. There was a 1/3 moon in the sky. Seeing is also terrible at that low altitude.

Hey I also wanted to have a try with rnc Stretch. Can you help me with the install of it?

I have installed Davinci and have put the LaunchConsole.bat in the Davinci Folder.
When I click "download "rnc-color-stretch-v0.975" I am directed to a page of 'C' script.
Do I copy and paste this?? and make it a file and put it somewhere? I assumed rnc-color-stretch-v0.975 was the program to install, but as I say, I get a web page of code.

Sorry , I dont mean to hijack your post but hope you can help. Thanks

 

[johneta]

Also for what its worth my advice on processing would be the following;

Have a go with Pixinsight.     Learning curve is steep but worth it.
I got a trial version of it and started with these 2 videos 

 

They will get you a great result out of the box.

I cant afford the software at the moment but intend to buy it soon.
My biggest improvement in processing came after Getting trial Pix and following along with these videos.

In the mean time I am following the steps and concepts he introduces with Photoshop. (You can do most of the steps to a degree with various tools in Photoshop.)

Good luck, you're certainly off to a great start.

John