The Andromeda Galaxy (also called M31) is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way and one of just a few visible to the unaided eye. With my humble 400mm FL optics, it is also the only galaxy I can shoot without any major cropping and thus my only galaxy target for the foreseeable future. Hence I decided on a larger scale project, avoiding the usual compromises and investing as much imaging time as necessary to also bring out fainter detail - within the margins my fairly light polluted skies allow.
Imaging took place from September - December '24, with a total integration time of 72 hours. A large amount of these went into collecting Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen III signal with dedicated narrowband filters, which can be seen in the reds and - though very faint - the blues, to better visualize these emissions.
That is certainly among the very best amateur images of M31 that I have ever seen. I'm seeing detail in that image that I don't know if I have ever seen in an amateur image of that object. I am in awe.
Would love to know more about the equipment used... camera, lens, mount, etc. and what software you elected to use for stacking and processing.
That's a fantastic image! I can't imagine 72 hours of imaging, plus I'd imagine all the post-processing required. That and the equipment required is intimidating and prevents me from trying astrophotography.
kirbic wrote:
That is certainly among the very best amateur images of M31 that I have ever seen. I'm seeing detail in that image that I don't know if I have ever seen in an amateur image of that object. I am in awe.
Would love to know more about the equipment used... camera, lens, mount, etc. and what software you elected to use for stacking and processing.
That is very kind feedback! Actually I have seen several better takes on M31, some of which were able to even visualize the extremely faint SDSO-1 object which was only discovered recently. This is a small emission nebula made up mostly of O-III and would appear in the top left of this framing. But in my version even with 30 hours shot in O-III and some advanced processing techniques like continuum subtraction, there was just nothing at all. That was indeed a bit disheartening for all the effort put into it - it might be due to my local sky conditions or a limitation of editing skills. Being able to capture some of the surrounding H-alpha outside the galaxy at least made up for this to a certain extent.
I used astro-specific equipment for this image.
Scope: Askar FRA400
Mount: WarpAstron WD-17 with ASIAir mini
Camera: ASI2600MM -- Filter (36mm): Antlia SHO 3nm Pro, LRGB-V Pro, ZWO EFW 7x36
Guiding: ASI220MM mini / ZWO 30F4 guidescope
Editing was done in Pixinsight for the most part, with some finishing steps in Photoshop.
Odyssey1812 wrote:
That's a fantastic image! I can't imagine 72 hours of imaging, plus I'd imagine all the post-processing required. That and the equipment required is intimidating and prevents me from trying astrophotography.
Wing.
Thank you! Yes, the editing took almost another month but that was because it was my first time for a galaxy and LRGB. Doing this with some more experience, finishing within a day or two should well be possible.
Amazing job! When I would observe other galaxies I would always imagine another life form looking back at our galaxy wondering the same thing.
M31 has over a trillion stars? So anything is possible!
Truly unbelievable this can be captured as an amateur. Thanks for stoking my curiosity. I'm going to look more into this. Would love a behind the scenes look at how this was captured.
Wow, the Askar FRA400 and the APS-C ZWO cam really are a nice match. The ASI2600MM is a really high-performance camera, so no surprise you got great data out of it. Pixinsight is one heck of a learning curve, that is for sure. I used it for the 30-day trial and was impressed, but I don't do enough deep sky work to justify purchasing it.
DanielJStein wrote:
Oh snap that is a fantastic M31. 72 hours will do that, plus amazing processing, especially in the HA.
Thanks! Yes, tried a first test stack at 40 hours and there was still plenty of difference to the final version.
AZHeaven wrote:
Amazing job! When I would observe other galaxies I would always imagine another life form looking back at our galaxy wondering the same thing.
M31 has over a trillion stars? So anything is possible!
Agreed! I also like to think there is a fairly high chance someone is taking photos of us - it would be so cool to actually take an image of Earth like that.
CapCityPhotos wrote:
Truly unbelievable this can be captured as an amateur. Thanks for stoking my curiosity. I'm going to look more into this. Would love a behind the scenes look at how this was captured.
Appreciate the comment. Yes, there has been a lot of development both in equipment and - more importantly - processing software over the years, so while it is still lots of effort, it is actually far more accessible now.
And now it is MY turn to give you excellent feedback on this superb rendition of M31! I am sure lots of time and effort going into it, but seemingly well worth the effort! I love the details and a lot of the faint regions have been brought out beautifully with your processing. The combination of the Hα data with your visible signal has been done very well (not easy to do).
As stated above, one of the better M31 images I have seen. So I must now ask you, where are you imaging from? And more gear info if possible. Is this posted elsewhere, perhaps at a larger size?
Best Regards,
Mike L. (ML)
Longmont, CO USA
www.thinairphotography.com
EDIT:
I now see above the gear list. That Sony IMX-571 sensor is so good (I have 2 different cameras that use it) and I also use those exact Antlia filters, I think they are really good, especially for the cost. Always fun to see accomplished astrophotographers posting here!
another_mikey wrote:
And now it is MY turn to give you excellent feedback on this superb rendition of M31! I am sure lots of time and effort going into it, but seemingly well worth the effort! I love the details and a lot of the faint regions have been brought out beautifully with your processing. The combination of the Hα data with your visible signal has been done very well (not easy to do).
As stated above, one of the better M31 images I have seen. So I must now ask you, where are you imaging from? And more gear info if possible. Is this posted elsewhere, perhaps at a larger size?
Best Regards,
Mike L. (ML)
Longmont, CO USA
www.thinairphotography.com
EDIT:
I now see above the gear list. That Sony IMX-571 sensor is so good (I have 2 different cameras that use it) and I also use those exact Antlia filters, I think they are really good, especially for the cost. Always fun to see accomplished astrophotographers posting here!...Show more →
Thanks a lot! Yes, those Antlia filters sit at a sweet spot regarding price/performance. I would have never been able to afford Chroma/Astrodon, but these are the next best thing imo.
This was mainly imaged from Tokyo/Yokohama, which - being the largest city on earth - is not very kind on the light pollution and seeing. For the LRGB data I actually had to drive to a neighboring prefecture and imaged at the coast over the ocean to avoid interfering light domes at the horizon.
