Two more finished images

These images continue my reintroduction to imaging. Big bright targets both, they're helping me prepare for the challenges ahead.

First is this completion of an earlier luminance-only image of M31:

The technical data and full scale image are here.

The colors in this may seem muted to you, but that's intentional. I much prefer less saturated images than  the common practice that I refer to as "color clipping" which results in super-saturation. See my other images from this year for other examples of softer hues, particularly the Cave and Gamma Cas nebula.

I am continually amazed by what the combination of autofocus and premium optics can achieve. Here is a full-scale portion of M31:

Hubble's Cepheid in M31

That unimpressive yellowish, fuzzy glow is a single star in another galaxy, in this case a rather historic star: Hubble's Cepheid Variable Star V1. Maybe I shouldn't be so excited about this, but I can't imagine resolving this with my old gear and manual focus. 

Next is one of those fortunate images a person makes while waiting for a primary target to rise. Here is M33, this time shot with the Takahashi CR 0.73 reducer.

Data and full image are here. Again note the more subtle coloration. I think the overall blue cast is "correct," but I've seen people produce M33 with colors all over the spectrum. 

Clouds ended the evening before my primary target rose high enough, so the California Nebula's RGB frames will need to wait for another night.

And No, I've not gotten back to the spectroscopic fun that I had hoped to. With winter on the doorstep it's unclear if I will.