M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy
Description: M31 the Andromeda Galaxy is in the constellation of, well, Andromeda. This image was taken on August 29, 2008 from the Oregon Star Party. This is currently my widest field configuration, with an 80mm refractor and telecompressor for a focal length of 402mm. I wasn't sure if I could frame this object. It's close enough to work, but I didn't quite make it. The object extends off of the upper right and lower left corners. If the field were a bit wider, I could pull up more detail from these areas.
Equipment: The image was taken with an Orion ED80 telescope on a Celestron CGE mount. The camera was an SBIG ST10XME with an Astro-Physics .67 Telecompressor and Astrodon filters. The guide scope and camera were an AstroTech AT66ED refractor with an SBIG remote guide head attached to the ST10. Focusing was done manually.
Exposures: 36x120 seconds luminance binned 1x1; 12x120 seconds each red, green and blue exposures binned 2x2.
Processing: Bias, dark & flat calibration, image registration & color registration were done in Maxim/DL. Curves, levels, LRGB combination, zone sharpening & noise reduction were done in Photoshop CS2. Gradient processing was done with GradientXTerminator.
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