M31 after a bit of work

Yes this past summer was a blurr

Way too much work and no time for the extras

Thankfully I like my job

Anyhoo

Were back and teching my new to me FSQ (FL)which I bought this past spring

No subs or alignment (yet)

I would like to here from anyone regarding tips to better exposure the dust lanes

I also bought the rotator for the FSQ and will be attempting my first multi image wide screen pic for my LCD TV and any alignment/combining tips for those of us that must set up every night would be greatly appreciated

Image so far is 6 min G and B 12 R and 18 L

Attached Image:

PS It was pushed pretty hard in CS

Lovely shot John! 8)
Very nice detail in the dust lanes... well done!

John,

That looks pretty good as it is! On the dust lanes/detail/core, do you have software that offers DDP routines like MaximDL? Or you can try the basic DDP in CCDOps (what camera did you use?), but that is very basic (no manual adjustments at all) and can tend to introduce artifacts, but at least it can also show what can be done by that process.

HTH,
Eric

I am curious. why is this galaxy so much more 'cloud/gas' looking as apposed to more individual stars in some spiral galaxys? I have always been curious about that.

Thanks,
Chris

John A. Maher said:
.....I would like to here from anyone regarding tips to better exposure the dust lanes....

As someone pointed out, you need more exposure time, John.
Do you have PhotoShop? Here's a tutorial by Don Waid on sharpening dust lanes:
http://www.waid-observatory.com/article-hipass.html
Attached is a quick run through on your image. Any sharpening techniques should really be done on good quality, 16-bit data, though.

dan kowall

Attached Image: