First ever picture through my telescope

[Enigma_RL]

So after a teasing couple of months, struggling with my setup and endless cloudy nights, I finally managed to get my entire rig to work last Sunday. After 4 hours of fixing issues I had just over 3 hours of imaging left to capture the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) before it disappeared behind my house, and man, I just couldn't slap that smile of my face watching the "live view". This evening I managed to get a small amount of time to process the data, but even though it is rushed and probably not as good as it could have been, I am extremely happy with the result. It's shot on a ASI2600MM-Pro camera through LRGB filters, with a William Optics GT81 IV. Feedback is more than welcome!

 

[Enigma_RL]

And I would also like to thank every one on this forum who has helped me out with troubleshooting and dumb questions. It is much appreciated!

Edited November 23, 2021 by Enigma_RL

[mr_belowski]

that's really nice

It never ceases to amaze me what can be achieved with astro photography. I love to just sit at the eye piece and gaze but pics like this are just magical

Edited November 23, 2021 by mr_belowski

[Shimonu]

That's a really nice version of Andromeda. I hope I can get one that good

[Enigma_RL]

26 minutes ago, mr_belowski said:

that's really nice

It never ceases to amaze me what can be achieved with astro photography. I love to just sit at the eye piece and gaze but pics like this are just magical

I actually started looking for a telescope with an eyepiece, but I stumbled upon a video of someone taking amazing pictures (I used to be into photography) and compared what a camera could see vs an eyepiece I was pretty much sold (and broke lol). Once I save up some more I’m considering buying a tabletop for on the side so I can watch while imaging. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing it with you own eyes 😁

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Disclaimer: woefully underqualified to be providing advice! 😁

Nevertheless: nice detail, and the background looks good (maybe a tad dark, but much better than I managed on my first attempt).

I wonder if there's something more that could be had in terms of colour? There's some lovely subtle reds and blues to be had in Andromeda.

[Clarkey]

Great shot. We have all been beginners - I still put myself in that category after 2 years of imaging. I still have the nights fighting with the kit, but it does get easier. As for questions - if you don't know the answer then it's not dumb!

Regards advice.... Don't rush the processing or at least go back and see if you can improve. I've gone back over my earlier data and there was loads more detail that was previously missed. Keep at it - this is a great picture.

[Enigma_RL]

7 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Disclaimer: woefully underqualified to be providing advice! 😁

Nevertheless: nice detail, and the background looks good (maybe a tad dark, but much better than I managed on my first attempt).

I wonder if there's something more that could be had in terms of colour? There's some lovely subtle reds and blues to be had in Andromeda.

Yeah I already have a lot of points that bother me, including blowing up stars, including some lower quality frames in my stack, saturation and brightness of the stars, sole light pollution  and rushed noise reduction. I was just too eager to poop out a color image haha. Next cloudy weeks I have something to work on. Also my blue’s were super bad and I could only take 9 before it disappeared behind my house, so will definitely add more data later. But yeah thanks, appreciate the feedback!

[Enigma_RL]

2 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

Great shot. We have all been beginners - I still put myself in that category after 2 years of imaging. I still have the nights fighting with the kit, but it does get easier. As for questions - if you don't know the answer then it's not dumb!

Regards advice.... Don't rush the processing or at least go back and see if you can improve. I've gone back over my earlier data and there was loads more detail that was previously missed. Keep at it - this is a great picture.

Thanks man! The rush this successful session gave me is enough to keep struggling

The rush in processing was because I couldn’t wait to get my first color image. I’ll definitely have an improved version in a couple of weeks!

[The Lazy Astronomer]

3 minutes ago, Enigma_RL said:

could only take 9 before it disappeared behind my house

Ah, the joys of mono imaging! 🙃

[Sunshine]

Though I cannot offer any technical advice or critique, I can honestly say I absolutely love this image of Andromeda, I love the warm tone and it is so nicely contrasted against a dark sky.

Those dust lanes are beautifully detailed and, you seem to have controlled noise so well. Bravo, it is beautiful and this is what I want my first andromeda to look like that I mount on my wall.

If this is your first ever image through a telescope then I cant wait to see future images.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Sunshine

[Enigma_RL]

5 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Though I cannot offer any technical advice or critique, I can honestly say I absolutely love this image of Andromeda, I love the warm tone and it is so nicely contrasted against a dark sky.

Those dust lanes are beautifully detailed and, you seem to have controlled noise so well. Bravo, it is beautiful and this is what I want my first andromeda to look like that I mount on my wall.

If this is your first ever image through a telescope then I cant wait to see future images.

I really appreciate this, thank you! ☺️

[CaptainKingsmill]

Lovely stuff! 

I really like the warmness of it and the dust lanes are great! loads of details,. 

[vlaiv]

Nice first image.

Two technical points from me - too much noise reduction and clipped background.

For noise reduction - look into masked noise reduction. This is simply done by creating two layers - one regular and one denoised on top of it. Then you make mask on denoised layer and use that same layer inverted for the mask (so that only dark areas of that layer are really used - that will denoise background and leave visible detail sharp).

[Enigma_RL]

56 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Nice first image.

Two technical points from me - too much noise reduction and clipped background.

For noise reduction - look into masked noise reduction. This is simply done by creating two layers - one regular and one denoised on top of it. Then you make mask on denoised layer and use that same layer inverted for the mask (so that only dark areas of that layer are really used - that will denoise background and leave visible detail sharp).

Thanks for the feedback, will keep it in mind when I reprocess the image

[rwillett]

Just to echo other comments, excellent first picture and very jealous.

[Andy R]

Great first attempt, way better than my first Astro image which was Andromeda too. 

[nfotis]

Very nice picture. If I manage to shoot such a first image of M31, I will be really happy!

N.F.

 

[Enigma_RL]

After actually spending some time with processing. I feel like I killed too much detail and went too aggressive on some processes, but definitely not unhappy with the result so far

 

[Clarkey]

However you process you will never be completely happy with the result - trust me. I reprocess again and again but I have yet to get the perfect image... Great outcome though. You should be pleased.

[vlaiv]

9 hours ago, Enigma_RL said:

After actually spending some time with processing. I feel like I killed too much detail and went too aggressive on some processes, but definitely not unhappy with the result so far

Maybe try one MNML processing effort - go by "less is more" moto

See what you can make out of this image simply by stretching the data. Leave out all other stuff out - don't denoise, don't sharpen, don't do star reduction - nothing fancy, just simple stretch

[Dps]

I tink that struggle you have gone through is for every beginner and i am also in the line now. I have galileo beginner refractor, connected to nikon 5100 via variable tube with 10mm eyepiece which came along with telescope. But could not ge even moon clearly. Not sure what i m mssing. Please help me.

Dp

[Enigma_RL]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Maybe try one MNML processing effort - go by "less is more" moto

See what you can make out of this image simply by stretching the data. Leave out all other stuff out - don't denoise, don't sharpen, don't do star reduction - nothing fancy, just simple stretch

I’ll try that once I’m able to shoot some more data in blue

[Enigma_RL]

34 minutes ago, Dps said:

I tink that struggle you have gone through is for every beginner and i am also in the line now. I have galileo beginner refractor, connected to nikon 5100 via variable tube with 10mm eyepiece which came along with telescope. But could not ge even moon clearly. Not sure what i m mssing. Please help me.

Dp

Which issue exactly are you running into? Also am I reading correctly that you are trying to take an image through an eyepiece?

[Dps]

 I bought following

1. Galileo 800m x 60mm Astronomical and Terrestrial Refractor Telescope

2.  Astromania 1.25" Extendable Camera Adapter - for Either Prime-Focus Or Eyepiece-Projection Astrophotography with Refractors or Reflector Telescopes - Threaded for Standard 1.25inch Astronomy Filters

3. t ring adaptor for nikon dslr

4. nikon d5100 ( already had) and tripod

 

Steps followed

1.setup telescope on tripod

2. Took an 10 mm eyepiece and inserted into extender connected it to telescope

3. connected t ring to other end of extender 

4. attached camera to t ring side of extender

 

Now every thing is blur nothing is in focus.

 

Other things tried like checking focus using eyepiece directly on telescope and found everything clear. But i want to capture picture atleast one tiny area of sky or moon. Not sure where i am going wrong.

 

thanks

dp