M31...50 point 0

[Rodd]

I have been away hiking through back villages of northern Spain for the last couple of weeks and man, was it good to get away from my obsession.  Funny--I didn't think about it too much.  Now I am back and am again cursing at the sky.  Hopefully tonight I will be able to get back in the saddle (without dislodging the telescope).  Meanwhile--I have never been satisfied with my processing of M31.  It is a pretty decent data set for me and an ever so slightly out of aklignment FSQ 106.  My problem has always been rendering it like a cartoon as opposed to a landscape photograph--that is, so it looks realistic and not like a movie's special effects.  I feel this rendition is much closer to my goal.  Previosuly I had inserted long foczl length data in the core--but it was only mono--so while the dust lanes looked good--it looked overall a bit off.  Closer and closer to the singularity I get...

FSQ 106 with .6x reducer and asi 1600-about 10 hours of 30 sec LRGB subs with 5 hours of 300sec Ha subs.  There are a couple of hours of 60 sec lum subs in there as well.   Goals included not oversaturating the Ha (or other regions), not losing the outer glow, and maintaining detail in the spiral arms.  I am looking forward to shooting this one again!!!

 

 

[simmo39]

Looks good to me!

[Sunshine]

Beautiful image! exactly how I see it in my 8" dob...😭 no.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Sunshine

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, simmo39 said:

Looks good to me!

Thanks. 

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

Beautiful image! exactly how I see it in my 8" dob...😭 no.

Thanks!  Actually, that is not too far from my goal.  Imagine what m31 would look like in a widefield eyepiece from a scope like the Liverpool telescope, or a bid scope located in space. 

[Rodd]

Here is a blend--70% new and 30% old--I think it is better.  More color without being cartoonish

[tomato]

Excellent M31, the dust lane detail is superb.

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Excellent M31, the dust lane detail is superb.

Thank you.  It only took me about as long as the age of the central black hole!!