3 hours on M31

[Spongey]

A couple of nights ago I was running some tests on my Esprit 100 as detailed in this thread: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/345575-esprit-100-pinched-optics

I didn't think that the data from the night would be in any way shape or form useful other than to characterise the issue present, due to the 90% moon not too far from the target. Either way, after stacking and stretching the data I decided to have a go at processing it anyway, and was surprised to see the result!

This image represents 3 hours and 28.5 minutes of data taken in 90s subs.

Taken with my Esprit 100 and Canon 6D, processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom.

Constructive criticism welcome as always!

Cheers

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by Spongey

[gilesco]

Very nice - some really good detail in there, I don't think you can complain about the scope, I have a 120 on order, hopefully arriving in a week or two.

[vlaiv]

Framing is a bit strange?

[Spongey]

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

Framing is a bit strange?

Yes, I didn't bother rotating the camera to fit the whole galaxy in as I was imaging for test purposes.

I wish I did now, but it makes a good phone background nonetheless 🙂

[gilesco]

Just now, vlaiv said:

Framing is a bit strange?

Yes, you might want to rotate the camera about 90-110 degrees, you might get some wider expanse and further detail, but sometimes it's good to see a different frame orientation, so many frame the same way and it just becomes another M31 😀. But as the OP stated, he was just checking the optic issue he saw, so get the impression he wasn't making a serious AP attempt.

[vlaiv]

That framing thing was my attempt at constructive criticism Everything else with the image is fine, so I just pointed that one as to give some feedback

 

[Ouroboros]

1 hour ago, Spongey said:

Yes, I didn't bother rotating the camera to fit the whole galaxy in as I was imaging for test purposes.

I wish I did now, but it makes a good phone background nonetheless 🙂

I’ve done that with M31 and then kicked myself later for not framing it right in the first place.  Yours is a lively image though. The colour balance looks spot on here. 

Edited November 5, 2020 by Ouroboros
Misuse of apostrophe.

[ollypenrice]

Nice natural M31 with tight little stars. Good core, too, though I'd soften the very middle part with a bit of blur because it looks slightly stellar.

If you go deep you can't fit in all of M31 at 530mm on a full frame chip. (I've tried!)  It will need a mosaic.

Olly

[messier 111]

only three hours, wow.

[Sunshine]

That is amazing, I see why my 3 second exposure isn't quite as detailed.

[david_taurus83]

That's real nice! I quite like the framing!