Reprocessing my first astrophotos from 2020 and early 2021 - M31 with 550D

[ONIKKINEN]

Some processing practice, and a look back at what i made then and what that same data produces today.

This one might be considered my first astrophoto. It was taken with a 550D piggybacking on an Astromaster 130MD with the RA motor engaged, lens is the canon kit zoom lens set to 100mm focal length and f/5.6 aperture. 32x 13 second exposures made it into the stack, i did take about three times that number but anyone who has been within 10m of an Astromaster mount will understand why only a third were usable. I was very proud of this one and i still am. It will always have a special place in my heart as the image that started my journey in astrophotography. I knew as soon as i saw the first sub that i had to get a proper setup and immediately fell down the rabbit hole (still falling, no bottom in sight).

My first process back in September 2020, in Gimp if i recall correctly:

And then what i processed just now in Pixinsight and Photoshop:

 

Then the second picture is the first somewhat successful night with my then new VX8 and EQM35 combo (not a very good match i should say) in January 2021. Camera was attached to the scope with a horrible contraption as i did not have the proper kit, it was a 1.25'' barlow barrel with the barlow removed clamped into an eyepiece projection t adapter with some thumbscrews and tape. The mount was powered through the interior 12v cigarette lighter plug of my Ford Focus with the engine running and the cable running through an open door, my batteries just couldn't do anything as it was very cold. MacGyver would have been proud to see that . No coma corrector yet, which should be obvious from the stars. I dont remember the processing, but judging from the file name it was in Photoshop. This was around 60 exposures of 30 seconds each, which was all i could get in the -20 degree weather with my aging Canon batteries.

And then what modern tools produce today, in Pixinsight and Photoshop. BlurXterminator recognizes the coma and just adjusts it away, its actually crazy how good a job it does. No flats and i had the back of the scope uncovered so there are horrible light leak gradients. I believe i also had the camera viewfinder uncovered, but i think i managed to hide most of those issues in today's process.

As a BlurXterminator showcase i thought to add the before and after view with aberration inspector mosaic view to showcase the difference better, since my original image has butchered stars to a point where coma is not so apparent.

And that's it for now, this was a good reminder on why you should never delete usable data no matter how bad it seemed at the time as future you will always produce the better image.

Edited May 1 by ONIKKINEN
added bxt comparison

[WolfieGlos]

What a difference, nicely reprocessed.