A dabble into Deep Sky

In an effort to break the run of solar-centric blogging, here's my first serious attempt at deep sky guided imaging. What better subject to start on than M31?

This is a stack of 1 minute exposures taken through my DSLR and 300mm lens at f4. Guiding is courtesy of my good pal Dave's wonderful Astrotrac. Never having used this kit before, I'm also indebted to him for operating it for me!

Images stacked using Deep Sky Stacker and processed to death in Photoshop. With practice, I hope one day to know how to use this software for astro images; I feel like I'm just starting to climb a very steep hill!

As a first effort I was reasonably pleased, 'though for my next attempt I think the main aim will be to actually get the thing in focus which, with luck, may improve the final result. Well, if it was perfect, I'd have nothing to improve upon!



M31 and companions