Yet another M31

[feverdreamer1]

Added some data to M31 and now I'm quite happy with it.

Bear in mind this is one of my firsts DSO, so post processing isnt the best.

This was 45 x 90",  total integration of about 1 hour  and 7 min calibrated with 7 darks and 15 bias.

Equipment was canon T2i, 55-250mm at 250mm f/6.3 and sky watcher star adventurer mount

The image was cropped, stacked in DSS and processed entirely in GIMP using curves and levels mainly

Any advice is really appreciated and welcome.

Also, if anyone wants to have a go at it here is the drive link to the tiff file, let me know how it goes! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ybRVRuiwsC2wqXMd4z8f5tQVAkCQaP9x/view?usp=drivesdk

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by feverdreamer1

[Marvin Jenkins]

You have done really well there. Nicely framed, plenty of dust lanes, M31 and 101 in particular well represented. I am quite new to all this imaging and processing lark, so I cannot offer advice, just praise.

Marvin

[feverdreamer1]

3 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

You have done really well there. Nicely framed, plenty of dust lanes, M31 and 101 in particular well represented. I am quite new to all this imaging and processing lark, so I cannot offer advice, just praise.

Marvin

Thanks Marvin for such kind words, really appreciate it

Clear skies!

[Aramcheck]

Thanks for sharing the data - had a quick play with it in Pixinsight.

Cheers
Ivor

[tomato]

Hi,

You should be happy with it, that's a fine M31. The data has more to give, as evidenced by Ivor's post. 

I'm not sure which is harder, capturing the data or mastering the processing, but both get easier with practice.

[Ouroboros]

3 hours ago, tomato said:

Hi,

You should be happy with it, that's a fine M31. The data has more to give, as evidenced by Ivor's post. 

I'm not sure which is harder, capturing the data or mastering the processing, but both get easier with practice.

I agree.   Not to deride in anyway @feverdreamer1‘s processing - as you’ve said it’s a tricky skill to learn - it just shows how much processing matters in getting the best from the data. Also how a dedicated application like Pixinsight has to offer in terms of providing the right tools.  
Essentially of course the data has to be good and, as in this case, the image is nicely captured and framed. I like wider field images of M31. 

Edited August 23, 2020 by Ouroboros

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Nice image with lots of detail, far better than many first DSO's, including mine 🙂 

I think the processing is more difficult than getting the data and personally never found Gimp easy to use so think that is a great result. Mind I am not saying that any of the other software for processing is easy.

The one thing about the processing though is that you can have another go and maybe try a different method or program whereas when obtaining the data if its a bad night then basically that is it you have to wait for another clear night and start again (although living in Spain that probably comes quicker than in the north of UK 🙂 )

Steve

 

[feverdreamer1]

1 hour ago, Aramcheck said:

Thanks for sharing the data - had a quick play with it in Pixinsight.

Cheers
Ivor

Wow, this shows how much I have left to learn in post processing. Amazing results man!

[feverdreamer1]

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

I agree.   Not to deride in anyway @feverdreamer1‘s processing - as you’ve said it’s a tricky skill to learn - it just shows how much processing matters in getting the best from the data. Also how a dedicated application like PS has to offer in terms of providing the right tools.  
Essentially of course the data has to be good and, as in this case, the image is nicely captured and framed. I like wider field images of M31. 

I've installed PS and definitely will give it another shot later today because it does look cloudy. I've been toying around with it for a while and its definitely more powerful than GIMP. Thanks for the comments.

[feverdreamer1]

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Nice image with lots of detail, far better than many first DSO's, including mine 🙂 

I think the processing is more difficult than getting the data and personally never found Gimp easy to use so think that is a great result. Mind I am not saying that any of the other software for processing is easy.

The one thing about the processing though is that you can have another go and maybe try a different method or program whereas when obtaining the data if its a bad night then basically that is it you have to wait for another clear night and start again (although living in Spain that probably comes quicker than in the north of UK 🙂 )

Steve

 

Thank you for your comments, I installed PS today and it does look much more powerful, looking forward to install some plugins too, as I've heard they make wonders.

You're right, cloudy nights dont come quite often, although the main problem for me is the LP,  another problem is dew, I have to check it every 10 -15 min, and I found this out by experience (had to throw away 60 x 1.5 minutes lights)

Clear skies!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

8 minutes ago, feverdreamer1 said:

Thank you for your comments, I installed PS today and it does look much more powerful, looking forward to install some plugins too, as I've heard they make wonders.

You're right, cloudy nights dont come quite often, although the main problem for me is the LP,  another problem is dew, I have to check it every 10 -15 min, and I found this out by experience (had to throw away 60 x 1.5 minutes lights)

Clear skies!

LP, yes the plague of many of us. I am on the edge of a town and do have LP but not that bad. Best move I ever made was to a dedicated mono Astro camera and ND filters. It's a big (and expensive) move from DSLR but can pay dividends.

Steve

[Ouroboros]

1 hour ago, feverdreamer1 said:

I've installed PS and definitely will give it another shot later today because it does look cloudy. I've been toying around with it for a while and its definitely more powerful than GIMP. Thanks for the comments.

Photoshop is a good application, and one I used for quite a while to post process my images.

I just want to note though that in my previous post I meant to type Pixinsight not Photoshop. I have corrected my post.