M31 Fail

[Perkil8r]

Thought I would have another go at M31. I set up and made a shade to shield the scope from the glare of a nearby streetlight. Started setting up early and achieved focus. Aimed at what I thought was M31 through the finderscope, it was still fairly light at this point so aimed at what I thought were the right markers. Waited for darkness (as dark as it's going to be at this time of year) and collected 30 subs @ 60 secs ISO 800, then same darks and some perfect flats using the laptop screen. Scope is st80, camera is modded 350d. The following image is stacked in DSS, levels and curves in PS5 and re-sized.

For saying it's a good few million light years out, I am still happy as there are next to no star trails, focus is pretty darned good and I've captured some stars.

Back to the drawing board me thinks, but at least I know my set up is working well. There is some reflected light off the botched shield from the moon, but it's a lot better than before. Annoyingly I was looking at M31 with the bins whilst the camera did it's stuff

[+Graham]

Hey Mike.

At least you have a good starting point with the set up.

Nice crisp round stars.

I cannot even see M 31 as it is too low in the sky and some pillock built my house in the way.

Next time Mike, next time.

[Perkil8r]

This is where I think I was pointing.