APOD: Andromeda before Photoshop (2019 Oct 14)

[Boomer12k]

It usually takes SOME processing to get a good, or better image... My M27. The dingy one is the original...the other was photoshop with auto contrast, auto color, auto level...taken with my 10" Meade LX 200 in 2012... 40 frames or so...maybe around 30 seconds each.

Even Astrophotoger, Tony Hallis, said, "Wow!"...he helped with some suggestions.

You want to see details... you need photography... you want a better image to see... you need processing...you want better images...you need a better CAMERA...

It can be quite the hobby...
:---[===] *

[gvann]

Well, "what M31 really does look like" should not include foreground stars and other astronomical objects that are in the Milky Way galaxy, and not in M31. If the point-spread function of the telescope is known, it should be possible to subtract the images of foreground stars. A quick Google search yielded this photo: http://i.imgur.com/mhWT7hA.jpg

[Ann]

All I can say is that I had no expectations whatsoever as to what Andromeda would look like. I was startled and delighted by the pale yellowish color. Not that I wouldn't have loved it even better if the color had been blue, but my point is, I didn't expect any color but I did see it. And I didn't know back then that galaxies typically have yellow cores.

You say I didn't see the yellow color of the center of Andromeda. I say I did.

I suspect you have atypical color vision.

I'm just glad that as a child, your reaction to the backyard viewing of Andromeda through a small telescope was one of wonder and careful observation, as opposed to "Mom[Dad], it's too cold out here. I want to go inside."

I didn't use a telescope. We had nothing of the sort. I had spread a blanket on the cold snowy ground and lay flat on it, scanning the sky with my parents' moderate-sized binoculars.

It took many years before I saw the Andromeda galaxy again, and then it was all gray. I have never seen color in it again.

Ann

[Ann]

It usually takes SOME processing to get a good, or better image... My M27. The dingy one is the original...the other was photoshop with auto contrast, auto color, auto level...taken with my 10" Meade LX 200 in 2012... 40 frames or so...maybe around 30 seconds each.

Even Astrophotoger, Tony Hallis, said, "Wow!"...he helped with some suggestions.

You want to see details... you need photography... you want a better image to see... you need processing...you want better images...you need a better CAMERA...

It can be quite the hobby...
:---[===] *

So well done, Boomer! It's great that you contacted the great astrophotographer Tony Hallas for some advice, too!

Ann

[neufer]

The Shining color of M31's core

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That's exactly what M31 looked to me back in 1972(?), except that the core of the galaxy was yellowish!

I'm just glad that as a child, your reaction to the backyard viewing of Andromeda through a small telescope was one of wonder and careful observation, as opposed to "Mom[Dad], it's too cold out here. I want to go inside."

I didn't use a telescope. We had nothing of the sort. I had spread a blanket on the cold snowy ground and lay flat on it, scanning the sky with my parents' moderate-sized binoculars. It took many years before I saw the Andromeda galaxy again, and then it was all gray. I have never seen color in it again.