An Early M31 in HaLRGB

[eshy76]

Hi everyone!

It's been a while, mainly due to the cloudy nights over summer...

My second ever M31 attempt, this time with a cooled CMOS mono camera and filters versus my previous DSLR effort about a year ago.

It's an early M31, I was too impatient to wait for the autumn evenings when this incredible, awe-inspiring object will be highest in the sky and went for it in late summer here in the Northern Hemisphere.

I love this hobby so much and the main limiting factor is my processing skills, but the only way to improve is to keep trying... hopefully I'm on the right track!

Captured using APT, pre-processed using APP and post-processed in Pixinsight.

Thanks for looking!

10.1 hours of integration time over 4 nights in August from my temporary back garden (we've moved house due to renovation work).

Full details here

[tomato]

Nice one, I love the detail in the dust lanes.

[eshy76]

34 minutes ago, tomato said:

Nice one, I love the detail in the dust lanes.

Thank you! I could have made this easier on myself by (a) waiting for autumn and (b) capturing this around the new moon (I think it was average moon phase of 50%), but I like the result!

[Space Oddities]

Very nice! I'm particularly impressed by the fact you can see some details in M110, probably some dust lanes as well?

The only criticism (if I may...) would be that I find the final image slightly too warm. Andromeda has a lot of blue in the outer parts, that are less visible with this warmer tint   

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Thats a cracking image with lots of detail 🙂

Taken with same camera and scope/ flattener as myself so why can't I get the same detail, maybe I need to try harder 🙂 

Steve

[eshy76]

37 minutes ago, Space Oddities said:

Very nice! I'm particularly impressed by the fact you can see some details in M110, probably some dust lanes as well?

The only criticism (if I may...) would be that I find the final image slightly too warm. Andromeda has a lot of blue in the outer parts, that are less visible with this warmer tint   

Thank you for this - yes I struggled with the colours and also gradients in the background and it is definitely warmer than other M31s I've seen...pushing the blues didn't really get me anywhere, so I settled on this for now. 

I think ultimately this is in Bortle 7-8 in summer and not in the new moon, so I don't know how much is salvageable, especially with my current processing ability!

But thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!

Edited September 2, 2019 by eshy76

[eshy76]

32 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Thats a cracking image with lots of detail 🙂

Taken with same camera and scope/ flattener as myself so why can't I get the same detail, maybe I need to try harder 🙂 

Steve

Thanks Steve! I think the integration time was key, although one of the four nights was pretty much a write off with the FWHMs all over the shop for RGB data...APP weighted those subs very lowly...I had to reshoot that data, but I am happy with the outcome.

Overall - I ended up with a LRGBHa split of about 12%/25%/25%/25%/13%, but taking into account the messed up night (which I still fed APP), probably roughly equal useable integration across all filters.

Edit: Oh and LHE in PI editing seemed to bring out more of the dust lanes around the core. I also tried HDRMT, but that seemed to reduce the core to its singularity form...so I binned that!

Edited September 2, 2019 by eshy76

[daemon]

That is a stunning image! I'd be more than happy with that. Well done!!

Daemon

[eshy76]

11 hours ago, daemon said:

That is a stunning image! I'd be more than happy with that. Well done!!

Daemon

Thank you very much Daemon! 

[eshy76]

Another reprocess during the current cloud-out...here I was going for a less overprocessed approach - less saturation, less sharpening...also added a nights' worth of new moon data using NINA for the first time, while culling some high FHWM subs. Lost some of the Ha detailing, but hopefully a more natural looking M31? High res version at same link as in the original post.