Late M31

[decoyp]

I've been trying to improve on my first attempt at astrophotography with m31 last year. This time with more subs and autoguiding to help. Plus I've learned a lot more about processing, although there's still a long way to go I think.

I'm quite pleased but not fully satisfied (does that ever come ?), with the result.

Taken using canon 300d unmodded. Heq5 with qhy5 as autoguide camera on a pier. total exposures were 23x5min + 24x6min on 3 seperate nights. Darks subtracted but no flats.

Please let me know what you think. I hope you like it.

Cheers

Richard

PS

I've noticed some stunning horsehead shots on the forum too. This is my next project but I'm not sure I'll fare too well with an unmodded DSLR. Still, "nothing ventured etc .....

[oldfruit]

Hi, Im not a dso imager but just thought i would say that is a great photo of M31, showing the dust lanes nicely.

[jgs001]

Richard, that's come out great, very nicely captured and processed. I think you could probably go a bit further on the processing, but I like that.

As for the horsehead... with an unmodded camera it's really hard. I tried it a couple of years ago with my unmodded 450d... and even with 4 minute subs at ISO1600, you could barely see it.

[SeedyF]

Looks great to me. Hard to imagine the little smudge I was observing at the weekend is this beautiful sight!

[decoyp]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll try going a little further with the processing, but I get a bit afraid of over doing it as I've done that in the past - its hard to know when to stop sometimes. Perhaps more darks and some flats might help. Maybe even a few more subs some time but I guess I'll have to be quick as Andromeda is sinking fast in the west these days.

I'll give the horsehead a go but I suspect you're right about it being a tough one. My plan is to buy a new (or newer DSLR) this year and mod the 300d for Astro work. Money permitting!!

Cheers

Richard

Will post my horsehead shot if it looks any good when I've got some more data !!

[adamsp123]

That ticks all the boxes for me. Lovely work