Object: The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Date: 12/20/03
Location: Upham, NM
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor (f/5.6) piggyback on a Meade 10" LX200
Guiding: 208XT
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D) @ Prime Focus
Exposure: 9x6min and 5x1min
Processing: Raw images converted to 16bit TIFF using the Canon conversion routine. Darkframe subtraction, alignment and stacking (adaptive addition) performed in ImagesPlus for six minute exposures. Residual background glow subtracted using a Gaussian-blurred background mask in PS. One minute exposures were combined using Sigma Clipped Average. Six minute and one minute results were blended using IP MASK function per M42 core demo and a 25x25 local blur was performed on the core region. Levels and curves (color balance) were adjusted in Photoshop. Minimum filter (1) was applied to bright stars and feathered in to reduce saturation effects from stretching. A final PS Gaussian blur was performed on core residual bright region then applied a light unsharp mask filter. Thanks to Steve Cannistra for his technique for reducing star bloat (minimum PS filter)
Comments: This beautiful spiral galaxy, at a distance of about 2 million light-years is our nearest galactic neighbor and can be seen with the naked eye in a dark sky (away from city lights.) The companion galaxies M32 (top) and M110 (below) are gravitationally bound to the enormous mass. This image won Honorable Mention at the Lodestar Astronomy Center 2004 Astrophotography Contest.
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© Dave Dockery 2003
