M31 - Could have been so much better.

[chris.bailey]

The weather forecast was great, Infra Red Satellite showed clear skies on their way so decided to make a night of it. Turned in to one of those where nothing goes well.

* Despite the forecasts it poured down as I set up.
* When it did clear I found one of my two batteries had not been plugged in to the mains. Forecast was for frost so knew I would have to run scope and dew heaters off a single battery limiting the time I had.
* Spent an hour trying to get guiding running only to find the guider cables wasn't plugged in to the mount. Spent another half an hour trying to guide on a hot pixel from the guide camera!!!
* Dew heater controller had turned down to minimum so that ice was forming on the front of the scopes.
* Once I had got sorted out M31 was heading rapidly for the meridian.
* Managed four frames before the merdian flip by which time the battery was low, I was fed up and a bottle of Glenmorangie held a lot more appeal.

http://www.pbase.com/chris_bailey/image/106794899.jpg
Williams Optics FLT110. Starlight Express MX25C. Guided with W/O ZS70 and SX Lodestar using PHD Guiding. EQ6 Pro.

This is the four frame I did get stacked in DSS and Processed with PixInsight. Great shame as the seeing was superb and its been cloudy since.

[Nighthound]

You got some very good data under difficult circumstances Chris. Really very good for only four frames. Good job.

[Celestron]

I think you did a great job and this beats the heck out of any of my attempts ever !

[GyRob]

thats a stunning shot.
Rob.

[chris.bailey]

You got some very good data under difficult circumstances Chris. Really very good for only four frames. Good job.

And that makes it all the more frustrating. Another 20 subs or so would have made a lot of difference. Best nights seeing I have experienced in a long while, very steady. The only clear nights since have been dominated by a full moon :-(

[Adrena1in]

I've had evenings like that, but tend to give up a lot earlier than you did! And if that's just four frames then it's pretty impressive. I don't get great skies where I am, but when I was in Norfolk, (Stiffkey), earlier this year I was stunned at how dark the skies were, and wished I'd taken my mount and scopes with me! ;)

[chris.bailey]

Yes I have reasonably dark skies other that to the NE where Norwich glow tends to interfere. North Norfolk does have very good dark skies.

It was one of those nights where I was all prepared to go through till 2 or 3am but nothing can prepare you for all the things that can go wrong with this hobby no matter how much you think you have it all covered. It was downhill really from the early rainfall. In hindsight trying to guide on a hot pixel off the guide cam is quite funny, not that it was at the time!

[Sorarse]

That's a great shot, and M31 has now been added to my list of things to find in the night sky.

One question; do you know what has caused the dark circles towards the bottom and right hand side? They don't look as if they were part of the night sky, so am wondering if they have appeared as part of your imaging or pp process.

[PM01]

Chris,

Nothing wrong with that shot at all. We have MUCH more light pollution and are barely able to resolve the core, much less the outer structure of M31.

I usually let the scope and mount run THROUGH the meridian. Having an AP1200 and a Tak NJP kinda helps too when out in the field and with a bit of wind conditions.

Things WILL go wrong when out in the field. I joke about making an 80 point checklist just to make sure everything goes correctly, but then things still go wrong.

And I've had SOLID equipment go "ALL WIERDO" on me. SBIG STV, AP1200, Thesky6....strange stuff! But it makes for a good learning lesson on to expect the unexpected when it comes to astro work.

[chris.bailey]

That's a great shot, and M31 has now been added to my list of things to find in the night sky.

One question; do you know what has caused the dark circles towards the bottom and right hand side? They don't look as if they were part of the night sky, so am wondering if they have appeared as part of your imaging or pp process.

Dust either on the CCD or Field Flattener. I have cleaned both but some persist. Could get rid of them with Flats but a glass of scotch was more appealing at the time :-)

[chris.bailey]

Chris,

I usually let the scope and mount run THROUGH the meridian. Having an AP1200 and a Tak NJP kinda helps too when out in the field and with a bit of wind conditions.



Cant do that on an EQ6 as the Camera smacks onto the tripod!

AP1200...dream mount..drool!

[PM01]

Chris,

Let's put this in an interesting perspective. Your picture, even with all the technical problems, reminds me of the one taken with the 48 inch schmidt camera at Palomar.

http://palomarskies.blogspot.com/2008/11/great-galaxy-in-andromeda.html

Even with all the difficulties, you're doing great work!!!

[PM01]

Hope you don't mind, but I pushed the levels a bit on your file. There's QUITE a bit of M31 sitting in there!

[Cobra351]

Looks pretty incredible to me!

[markjpcs]

Great job under the circumstances.

Looks like you have quite a bit of dust on the sensor.

[adam8080]

Hope you don't mind, but I pushed the levels a bit on your file. There's QUITE a bit of M31 sitting in there!

Unless he has IMAGE EDITING OK (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=6889653#) turned on, then it isn't ok to edit someone else's image.


Nice capture by the way.

[PM01]

Aha! Didn't know that one!

[chris.bailey]

Unless he has IMAGE EDITING OK (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=6889653#) turned on, then it isn't ok to edit someone else's image.


Nice capture by the way.

Now turned on so no worries.

[chris.bailey]

Great job under the circumstances.

Looks like you have quite a bit of dust on the sensor.

Yep, really must get around to doing some flats!

[bReed]

amazing shot!