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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy - first light Atik 490ex

x6gas

By x6gas
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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x6gas

x6gas

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Amazingly new kit being delivered was followed by clear skies instead of thick cloud.

This is M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy taken on 20 April 2013 with my Atik 490ex and Celestron Edge HD 11. I bought this scope in order to capture this type of target and I am pleased with the results.

Scope: Celestron Edge HD 11 with Optec Lepus focal reducer @ f/6.2, 1736mm focal length

Camera: Atik 460ex, @ -20c

Mount: CGEM DX

Guiding: Atik OAG, QHY IMG0H, PHD

31 x 300s, no darks, no flats.

I have a couple of dust bunnies in the imaging train but I can't seem to track them down. Definitely not on the filters and I can't see anything on the reducer or the camera window... :icon_scratch:

gallery_11821_2478_7108.png

Full size image here.

Thanks for looking.

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davew

davew

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I take my hat off to you mate ! All nicely lined up, collimated, focused and guided to perfection.

On top of that, the processing is very crisp and smooth. Exceptionally nice work,

Dave.

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Martin-Devon

Martin-Devon

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Very crisp image Ian, well done. You're among the first to post with the new Atik490EX as well, so we'll be watching to see how further images compare. Interestingy you have both the 460 and the 490 now - what's your thinking behind when to use which one for a particular target?

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x6gas

x6gas

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Very crisp image Ian, well done. You're among the first to post with the new Atik490EX as well, so we'll be watching to see how further images compare. Interestingy you have both the 460 and the 490 now - what's your thinking behind when to use which one for a particular target?

It's a good question Martin. I presumed that I'd be using the 490 binned 2x2 on the SCT, but with the focal reducer it seems to work quite nicely unbinned... The thinking behind having the 460 and 490 was really for the dual imaging rig that I have put together just at the wrong time. The dream set up would be to have another Tak FSQ85 one capturing colour with a 460 and the other luminance on the 490. As it is I'll have the Baby Q and TS90 but I think it should work OK.

It does mean that I'll probably have to let my 383L go... shame as it's a lovely sensor with nice sized pixels and a good sensor size but I just can't see it getting used...

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x6gas

x6gas

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Stunning detail & depth there, that kit is going to be a top performer on here & they person behind it all, thought of going Hyperstar yet :grin: ?

Ah well I do have a Hyperstar Ewan. Got it on here but haven't had the chance to use it yet... I'm only really just beginning to get to get to grips with the EdgeHD having really fallen in love with short fracs for nebula. But as I say above, I really bought this scope in order to chase this sort of target.

This was one of the first images I captured almost exactly 2 years ago...

post-11821-0-08420700-1366579233_thumb.j

So I think I've come a long way!

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x6gas

x6gas

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Thanks Martin, Ewan, Epicycle, Peter, and Martyn.

I tried really hard not to over-process this. It's tempting to try to pull out some of the whispy stuff surrounding the galaxy, but left it light touch in the end. I like that there is a hint of it there, but if I tried to lift it out more then I couldn't seem to get a natural transition from the galaxy to the background.

Any hints on how to get around that in processing gratefully received!

By the way, the image in post #15 were with my C6 newt and a Nikon D40 (cropped to kill the worst of the coma!)

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x6gas

x6gas

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Some lovely razor sharp detail right into the core of m51. Using long focal length sct's for dso work is not easy. but once you get to grips with it as you have X6gas, the results are quite simply stunning!

Thanks Martyn. Yes, guiding at 2800mm - which I have tried a few times - is not at all easy, but the rig is a bit more forgiving with the focal reducer. I use an Atik OAG and I do think OAG is the way to go though I see plenty of images on here very successfully guided with a short f/l guidescope. I am still refining my PHD settings and I have some backlash on the Dec axis still despite hypertuning the mount last year. The PHD guide graph is pretty choppy and certainly not sub pixel guiding but the results are OK, I think. I didn't do any deconvolution on this, but did ditch 9 sub-standard subs.

Actually, I have another stack using all 40 lights but stacked with the Sigma Average algorithm in AstroArt 5. This looks OK too as the pixels on the dodgy stars are rejected but I haven't tried to process it. The background wasn't too noisy and - as with the 460 - I didn't need to use darks. Might take and apply some, though, just to see if it makes any noticable difference.

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