Andromeda Galaxy (Tej Dyal)

Andromeda Galaxy

This is a reprocessed version of my first ever galaxy which I haven't actually uploaded yet. This was stacked without calibration files to test someone's theory on whether having dark and bias calibration frames is necessary on the assumption that DSS can still stack and eliminate noise without them.

I will upload a comparison using the same settings and similar processing but with dark and bias frames to compare. However, I can say from having done both, it seems the controversial theory that we dont always need calibration frames might be true at least in this case.

I took this image during the in the darkest skies of Breacon Beacons, Wales.

Its a huge pleasure to be adding my first DSO in my gallery after a year of dreaming of imaging deep space. It took me a while but I have finally sussed out precise polar alignment and I think I am confident in setting up my HEQ5 Pro mount to track accurately, ensuring proper levelling of mount, then polar alignment and then doing a 3 star alignment. Also focussing with a bahtinov mask.

My scope is an Equinox 80 apochromatic refractor. No vignetting with this scope so I didnt bother with flats.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	376919
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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