First ever attempt at Astrophotography - M31

[CraigD1986]

Here is my first ever attempt at any kind of astrophotography. Shot on Friday under a Bortle 5 sky.

Canon 5D Mk IV with Sigma 150-600 contemporary lens at 400mm

Sky Watcher star adventurer

30 seconds, f6.3, ISO 3200 (Approx 80 frames)

Stacked in deep sky stacker & then edited in Lightroom & Photoshop.

I found the processing particularly challenging but any advice on improvements in any area would be much appreciated. Next time I’m going to try and get 1 minute exposures.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I think you should be very proud of that image, especially it it is a first attempt.

Steve

[Sunshine]

I’d be stoked if it were my first DSO, you’re on your way to a great start!

[CraigD1986]

23 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I think you should be very proud of that image, especially it it is a first attempt.

Steve

Thanks Steve, I’m definitely proud of this one but mostly inspired

 

13 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

I’d be stoked if it were my first DSO, you’re on your way to a great start!

i absolutely am. Can’t wait to get back out there!

[callisto]

Excellent, well done 

 

Mark

[Lee_P]

Fantastic, especially for your first picture!

[AstroMuni]

On 26/09/2021 at 17:46, CraigD1986 said:

I found the processing particularly challenging but any advice on improvements in any area would be much appreciated. Next time I’m going to try and get 1 minute exposures.

Thats a great shot. Good luck with longer exposures. Just watch out that you dont end up with elongated stars. For longer exposures the polar alignment becomes more critical. And any mount errors show up too. Having said all this 1min is very doable.

[kirkster501]

A brilliant start. Well done.

[tomato]

That’s a top notch first go at M31. My advice would be to gather more subs, particularly when the moon is out of the way, assuming the weather in North Yorkshire co-operates!

[kosmoplan]

Excelent first!