How I helped discover the Andromeda Oxygen Arc

Hello everyone I hope you enjoyed this video, it has been an absolute honor to work on this project. This video is about the initial discovery process of the oxygen arc around the andromeda galaxy, a never before seen structure until now. Prints of this image are available here on my website: astrofalls.com/
Here you can find the other team members who worked on it (those who have social media):
Marcel Drechsler: www.astrobin.com/users/Marcel...
Yann Sainty: www.astrobin.com/users/yann_s...
Xavier Strottner: www.astrobin.com/users/leonberx/
You can find more of my work here: / astrofalls
The equipment I used to detect this nebula can be found here: astrofalls.com/pages/about
If you want to help support this channel, use the affiliate link here when buying telescopes: bit.ly/2BhdyjL
Some background footage was sourced from here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20344
and here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11447
and here: • MIRI Filter Wheel (Qua...
Thank you all for watching!
#astrophotography #telescope #andromedagalaxy #pixinsight #zwo #orionnebula #milkyway #astrofalls

[@Strottner-Drechsler]

Probably my comment will be completely disappeared here ;-) Bray, it was a great honor and pleasure to have had you on the team for this discovery. I hope we work together again soon! Thanks pal! 😁

[@astrofalls]

Not unless I pin it! 😂 Hopefully once the clouds part I’ll find the next one

[@Thomasp671]

I also found and discovered, Pickett's Bell around Betelgeuse in 2015. Most everyone who had photographed this area had it in their photos but no one spotted the dark bell shaped ring around Betelgeuse until I shot it up close, spotted it, and called it out in my post. Then everyone started calling it, Pickett’s Bell after my last name. Everyone was stunned when they seen it for the first time even in their own images. :-) For thousands of years we think this dark bell shaped ring is mass being shed and ejected from the massive star as it begins it's death march towards a Supernova. Congratulations you guys for finding this very faint OIII nebula.. :-)

[@TonyCecala]

Congratulations!

[@phnxvfx]

That's crazy dude

[@tww00]

and probably may will find it now in the archives, just nobody was aiming for it directly, and even those who saw it, didn't knew it's something new...

[@flavio.540]

For decades we missed this piece of Andromeda. This really is the discover of the century, I've no words.

[@eMBO_Gaming]

Absolute cogratulations. The fact, that it was unnoticed so many years even through it's next to one of the most photographed objects is not only mindblowing, but also inspiring to research the sky for yourself. Imagine how many of such objects there must be in less popular regions of the sky.

[@peterlaubscher3989]

Okay, I suspect that someone else has said this already, but talk about hiding in plain sight! This is astonishing. Congratulations. Amazing perseverance. Absolutely thrilled for you and your amazing team!

[@stewartwilson7482]

Congratulations on the discovery, and thanks so so much for making this video. I've seen so much about the discovery in the astronomy press, but nothing in so much detail as your explanations. Really appreciate you taking the time to explain. Keep hunting!

[@Ryan-ct1oc]

this is incredible, WOW at a loss for words. Amazing discovery and work as always.

[@astrofalls]

Thanks Ryan!

[@KJsCosmos]

Incredible! Congrats on this massive discovery dude!!! This is huge! Just goes to show that everyone can help make discoveries in this field. So motivating! Congrats

[@tmostofi]

That was AWESOME!!!! Congratulations to you and the entire team, a lot of hard work that truly paid off, what an inspiration!

[@jjlodgephotography]

Wow! Congratulations Bray and everyone else on the discovery. This year's APOTY winner for sure 👍 Great video also, very interesting.

[@greenasgrass1]

Just wow! Absolutely incredible work Bray and pals. Just blown away man!

[@AstroCreation]

Hi, Bray! Great story and discovery! It is really interesting that many astrophotographers capture Andromeda, and no one had realised there is a nebula until you did! I recently completed my 24 hours of exposure time on Andromeda Galaxy, and you inspired me to collect even more data on my future targets. Thank you for the video and clear skies!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Well done! Amazing! My guess is that imaging it from Tokyo might be slightly difficult :p

[@astrofalls]

Ya never know that hyper star might get the job done if the filter is good!

[@TheUrbanAstronomer]

Such a phenomenal find! Congratulations to you and everyone involved!

[@RobertoCighetti]

Congrats Bray, you really should be proud of your wonderful job for taking part to this astonishing study

[@markoposavec9240]

Never thought such discoveries were possible with a wide field of view and amateur equipment. Ridiculously epic stuff!

[@starsips]

Absolutely incredible! Well done!

[@andrewpye6371]

Such a mind-blowing discovery and an incredibly beautiful image to accompany it 🤩 Incredible work from the whole team, and a great video explaining the process clearly and concisely. Thanks so much for sharing this!

[@steevebody449]

Congratulation man! That would have been so exciting to be part of this project. Well done

[@astrofalls]

It was special for sure!

[@Adrift555]

This is single handly my favourite DSO image so far. Amazing work!

[@astrophotonics9470]

Fantastic find, hopefully you and this team will continue your survey. Grats on the APOD.

[@geminijk]

Congrats on a fascinating capture!

[@AlanHowellphotovideo]

Simply fantasitc work Bray! I think many amateur astrophotographers can relate to dumping images they thought were ruined from gradients, now only to find out that if they had been shooting a wider field of view, they were actually capturing a small part of a nebulous region adjacent to their target. Your super wide field mosaic images give testament to this as well.

[@Allan_Melon]

Just staggering what someone can do from the comfort of there backyard, truly outstanding and inspring, this is why I love astronomy so much! Well done

[@karyleianawildernesscapes]

Congrats to all involved! Such dedicated work! ...& now, I feel I'll be seeing this image replicated ALOT in the coming months/years lol!

[@astrofalls]

With the bad weather and timing I feel like it’s gonna be next august before we see any more images, I’m excited to see some new ones thoufh

[@nickb7977]

That’s for sharing this story. Very inspirational! Bravo!

[@bymartinek]

Fascinating jurney and amazing result!

[@michaelwright248]

Congrats on the amazing work! Very inspiring!

[@amaar1646]

This is literally the coolest thing ever!!! So surreal that is what literally right adjacent to one of the most photographed parts of the sky!

[@djameli379]

Congratulations 🥳, and I wish you more discoveries, and indeed your discovery is the source of the inspiration for all amateurs 👌

[@DSOImager]

Very cool! Grats to the team on an awesome discovery!

[@aw7425]

Congrats and clear skies, you gentlemen are an inspiration to us all.

[@ianlauerastro]

So stoked for you bud, congrats to you and the team!

[@astrofalls]

Thanks Ian!

[@Perseusdream]

Relly nice and hard work! Congratulations!

[@markhelton8032]

Congratulations to you, and all involved! Here's to citizen scientists, and all the amateur astrophotographers out there helping to contribute to our understanding of our universe! You have inspired me, as an astrophotographer, to get back out there and find new things! Clear Skies, and thanks for a beautiful image, and a wonderful discovery!

[@exif6839]

Good job! Congratulations to this awesome work!

[@beatriceheinze2294]

Waw! Congratulations Bray and the others from the team! Awesome discovery.

[@astrofalls]

Thanks so much!

[@DavesAstrophotography]

Excellent Bray, well done, and great explanation!

[@jonnic2000]

Great video that's to the point with excellent processing advice and congrats on helping discover this. Looks like I'll be buying new filters now!

[@astrofalls]

Thanks so much! And go for the 3nm for this one

[@matthiasdipiazza849]

This is crazy. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[@atbsigma]

09:30 Your concerns about who would get credit for discovery of this oxygen arc over Andromeda are similar to the credit for discovering Neptune. Those astrophotographers who imaged in OIII are going to go back and realize they had something there all along, and maybe kick themselves. The way I see it - anything that is in the night sky is only new to us as humans, not new to the universe. What you and your team are sharing about this arc benefits the entire astronomy community. I think we should go beyond the obvious 'award mindedness' of such a thing and see if this leads to time on larger observatories to try and discover things about this nebula, such as how far it really is from Andromeda (could it be a line of sight thing and not directly from the galaxy itself??). I applaud you and the team you were a part of for being willing to spend the time and hours to show that this arc was a real 'thing' and not just an artifact of OIII imaging on M31. Congratulations!!

[@astrofalls]

Yeah in a perfect world it would be nice to be more open about the process, but if I gotta do astrophotography to pay for rent and food you bet I’m gonna keep it on lockdown!

[@atbsigma]

@@astrofalls ya know what I completely understand that approach! I hope for you to make more discoveries with your techniques and connections with professionals in the field.

[@olaftopper4813]

Congratulations, this is truly amazing

[@grahamconatyastro]

Absolutely incredible work!

[@alexalmeida8627]

Absolutely amazing! Congratulations!!!!

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

Thank you for posting this. It's a brilliant discovery.

[@renedef1]

Congratulations. Great work!

[@thelostexplorer2964]

I just saw your winning image at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. What a spectacular accomplishment for all involved. Congratulations!

[@GuidoGallenkamp]

"You are too young to change the world as we see it!" "Hold my binos..."

[@ASTROindi]

Awesome, new inspiration 👏🏻

[@joeydsa]

Congrats Bray on your Discovery!! 😎🥳🎆🎇

[@mohammadranjbaran1897]

Great Job Bray.

[@pehz]

congrats man that is really cool

[@CuriousRiz]

Congratulations! What an amazing Discovery to be a part of.

[@3DAstroTC]

Amazing stuff Bray!!

[@nickambrose8606]

Fantastic work !

[@ShortWorld007]

Congratulations to the whole team 🤩

[@Kbla63]

Kudos to your both. It needs a name and I think it would be a total credit to you both to name it after you both.

[@noddyonice]

Stunning and incredible! Congratulations to all concerned on this discovery and superb image. If I ever switch to mono, this would be a great multi year project given the lack of clear nights here in the North East of England. 👍 Noddy

[@astrofalls]

You could do it it one night if you got like ten telescopes!

[@noddyonice]

@@astrofalls ….be some rig that! 🤣

[@davidleejenkins]

Wow! Congratulations! I won’t look at Andromeda the same way again.

[@TheWonkyAstronomer]

Great work. Congratulations!

[@explosive5098]

Absolutely stunning, I may try to challenge myself to get even just a hint of the nebula next time I go to a dark site

[@astrofalls]

With fast enough optics it is doable in one night!

[@withmuckguy3362]

I just saw your post of this on reddit in r/space and r/astrophotography. Amazing job spaceshuttleinmyanus!

[@glennpoplin977]

Incredible discovery, congratulations.

[@Quwucuqin]

It's wonderful amazing work

[@TruptiVijayPatil]

Very interesting and very informative 👍🏻

[@panda_is_hangry0.0]

congrats team👏👏👏👏😍

[@TyroTim2000]

Awesome. Great work

[@astrofalls]

Thanks Tim!

[@spacetechtips]

Great work, what a dream!

[@ydid687]

love youtube sometimes for its recommendations and good channels, nice vibes all around :)

[@EvanBrand]

That's incredible dude, hell yes!

[@TonyCecala]

Congratulations! No doubt, your consulting business will be skyrocketing.

[@brianastrodoc2886]

Fascinating video and congrats on aiding in the discoveries. I would like to learn more about the Continuum Subtraction processing in PI. You think you can make a small video on that process? Clear Skies!

[@laurielou8870]

WOW, Surprise! You and the rest of the team over at Team StDr ROCK 🎸

[@nwelch1001]

Awesome 👏

[@southbronxny5727]

I always guessed there was always more gases with extra exposure time. Excellent work.

[@a22226565]

Good Job !

[@blazingheavens5362]

The blue vs Oiii continuum process was pretty mind blowing to hear about, such a cool process. It's awesome thinking that this tedious and time consuming process that your team does can help discover tons of "hidden in plain sight" nebulae and how that will possibly impact our understanding of our galactic situation with Andromeda and the universe around us in general. Are you offering prints yet?

[@mavokoro]

SO COOOOL!

[@nemesis2767]

Broo .... very good job ... congratulations 🎊 👏🏼..... I also want to be an astrophotographer like you dude ..

[@wardog3449]

Buying this set up

[@jerrypeal653]

Good job .

[@rajmdalvi]

amazing bro

[@TheDreamerS4599]

thank you 🌈🦋

[@puneetmaheshwari]

this video is going to blow up mark my words

[@nadirteymurov1]

Bray, your autofocus. Again ! Congrats on the discovery !

[@astrofalls]

I know I know

[@JW-uj3we]

Have they pointed the Hubble at it yet? Let's hope so, nice vid, keep up the great work!

[@notnize9695]

This is incredible! Thats truely a really big discovery. How much exposure would be needed for the nebula in the galaxy itself?

[@michaellewis5921]

Truly impressive work, loved the entire video. I like going deep on deep sky objects, and do have a 3nm OIII filter, but as you say, would not have thought to point it at a galaxy like M31. Very cool. I am interested in how the continuum subtraction in the Blue band is done (and then also potentially in other narrowband emission data sets as well). Is this some sort of a PixInsight Pixel Math operation on processed OIII and Blue filtered data stacks, or is it done in preprocessing, or ??? Can you share some more details on how that works, or share a reference to go look at for more detail on how that part of the processing was accomplished?

[@bmwassim4839]

Nice man

[@KopLamp]

Incredible. I've never shot M31 seriously... yet ;-)

[@jbnitpou9942]

Really …. 👍👍👍👍. You get a new French follower.

[@MT-ur5dp]

Amram et al. published a paper in March, showing that this arc is likely part of a Supernova Remnant 700 parsec distant. Also nice.

[@sriramsankar]

Cool image. Just wondering how you ruled out foreground contamination by Milky way and HVCs.

[@astrofotoperu]

Congrats for contributing on this discovery. What an incredible image! I've imaged M31 several times, but never seen this faint oxigen nebula. Do you think it might pop up with that amount of exposure time (got a RASA 8 which is very fast), but with a color camera?

[@astrofalls]

If you used a dual band filter with a narrow Oiii bandpass you could pick it up with a color camera!

[@astrofotoperu]

@@astrofalls Thanks a lot! I have the IDAS NB1 filter, so I think it might work out! Thanks man! Love your work! All the best from Lima, Perú!

[@davidemancini7853]

Amazing! I was wonder why you guys use such a small aperture for project of this size? ( beside the focal lenght issue) Why not a 12” or 14” newtonian?

[@mfourn97]

Incredible discovery. Congrats ! One questions: did you manage to evaluate, even approximately, the distance between Earth and the arc, so that the scenario in which the arc actually belongs to our Galaxy can be eliminated ? Thanks!

[@darcyf.5455]

holy shit man!

[@abbreviateTome]

Congratulations 🎊

[@runematthijssens2304]

Could you maybe do a tutorial on how you deal with the continuum image?

[@user-xm2oj6nr2d]

Потрясно! Потрясающе, что в наше время, когда наука очень дорогая, любители могут делать большие открытия со своими скромными возможностями. Прошлое, такое масштабное, открытие, насколько я помню - это межзвёздная комета Борисова. Поправьте, если я не прав.