M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

This is my first AF project with good results. Minimal mount alignment and calibration capable of 60 second exposures. It was not a good night for AF, bad seeing (humidity), moon glow (waxing gibbous) and the ever present light pollution.

The equipment still has limitations resulting in: chromatic aberration, gradients, vignetting, curved focal plane just to say a few.

Processing needs a lot of work, im just at the start of the learning curve and with so much to learn. I just can't get the color in this photo right...

Special thanks to all the good people from APAA and Galactica forums who showed a lot of pacience and gave precious help to a noob like me.

 

 

 

 

Image Data: Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31), Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy M32, Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy M110

Lens/Scope: Sky-Watcher 80mm

Focal Length: 400mm

F/Stop: f/5

Exposure: Stack of 120 60-second exposures (2 hour total exposure)

Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan GoTo (EQMOD Control)

Guiding: None

Camera: Unmodified Canon 500D (Digital Rebel T1i)

Mode: Raw

ISO: 800

White Balance: Custom, set on sky background

In-Camera Noise Reduction: Off

Filter: None

Date: October 16, 2010

Start Time: 21:40

Location: Beja, Portugal

Calibration: 120 Darks. 50 Flats. 50 Dark Flats.

Processing: Calibrated, aligned and stacked in DSS. Levels, curves, brightness and contrast enhancement, cropped, resampled in Photoshop. GradientXTerminator. Carboni Tools.