Brief M31 First Light with the RASA8 and 2600MC (Brandon Tackett)

Brief M31 First Light with the RASA8 and 2600MC

A single clear night even with 10-12 mph winds, temps starting at -5 F , and 70% illuminated moon was all I could ask for to get first light on the new camera after a 3 week wait. I intended to capture M45, but proximity to the moon eliminated this option and I moved to M31. Not ideal capture in regards to framing (I didn't want to rotate the camera once outisde), but spent 2 hours on it with the moon and was pleased with the results. Stars in the corners will need some work, not sure if it is a focus or a camera tilt issue yet.

The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest large spiral galaxy in the local group. One of my favorite things to do at night from my backyard still after 4 years into this hobby is to look up and see the galaxy with my own naked eyes. Using averted gaze to see the central point and two spindles about 2x width of the full moon is always incredible. The galaxy is 2.5 million light years from earth and measures 140,000 light years across.

Final
Original
B

N.I.N.A. Users
RASA Images
Central USA
Celestron RASA

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	9090430
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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