Bit of help with imaging

[teztwister]

I need a bit of help with imaging,setup= EQ6 PRO , ED80 ,and a Canon 450D unmodified guided with PHD

I am a complete novice at this and i was trying to image M31 but not with much luck,30 second exp x15 , ISO 1600 ,is this one of the targets where you need to use a filter of some kind because i was just getting no detail , i do live in a light polluted area , it is basically the first target i have tried with the 450D and ED80 so i have nothing to compare it to

Any advice will be appreciated

Thanks Tez

[Beyond_Vision]

I would go for longer exposure of around 5 mins if your guiding is working ok. You will need well over an hours worth of data to start to bring out detail. It would also help if you used a light pollution filter such as a Neodymium filter which will block out sodium street lamp light pollution.

Regards

Kevin

[steppenwolf]

This is certainly not an 'easy' target despite its size - the problem is that the core is very bright and the outer arms pretty dim in comparison so getting the balance right is a challenge. Longer exposures would be required to collect the extra data to show the dust lanes but if your skies are heavily light polluted, the image could 'fog' in a relatively short length of time.

Kevin's suggestion regarding a LP filter would be a good start to allow you to try longer exposures.

[adamsp123]

I would highly recommend getting Steves' (above) book, great for the budding imager.

Pete

No I am not on commision, but it is very good book!

[teztwister]

I would go for longer exposure of around 5 Min's if your guiding is working ok. You will need well over an hours worth of data to start to bring out detail. It would also help if you used a light pollution filter such as a Neodymium filter which will block out sodium street lamp light pollution.

Regards

Kevin

When i take a photo of say 2 Min's or more (or maybe a bit less) the picture goes orange i think it must be the sky-glow or maybe the lights from the next door neighbor

Tez

[ollypenrice]

I think it will be the light pollution than turns things orange. Have you done dark frame subtraction? That's also pretty important.

There are some proprietory plug-ins for Photoshop which can help. Russell Croman's Gradient Xterminator and Noel's Actions, though I'm the wrong person to help over light pollution cos we don't really have any!

As has been said, M31 is actually very difficult to image for the reasons given. My own latest effort had 11 hours of data. If I were you I'd try somethning up high, maybe a cluster, to keep out of the worst of the glow. I know this may be hard on your neck for finding focus, though!!

Olly