Why is my M31 terrible?

[rnobleeddy]

Thanks for all the advice here - I got dithering working, got my EQ6 up and running for longer exposures, and spent a little more time learning processing (in startools, which I realize is at the easier end of the spectrum) and got a much better result.

 

I realize this is still far from perfect - a few stars look odd, there's too much noise at the bottom of the image and M31 appears to be too big for a single image from my OTA, but I'm pleased with the extra detail! 

startools_output_new_levels.TIF

Edited September 23, 2020 by rnobleeddy