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M63 Sunflower Galaxy EdgeHD 11" & CEM60 reprocess

x6gas

By x6gas
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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x6gas

x6gas

Posted
Posted

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on my previous attempt at M63.

This is a reprocess with the same data - 16 x 300s luminance un-binned, and 8 x 180s each of RGB, binned 2x2.

Scope: EdgeHD 1100 @ 2800mm f/l

Mount: iOptron CEM60-EC

Camera: Atik 460ex

Guiding: Atik OAG, IMG0H, PHD2

post-11821-0-31402900-1401637600_thumb.p

Thanks, as always, for looking.

Ian

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x6gas

x6gas

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Thanks Peter, thanks OldPink.

If only we'd have some clear nights I could see what my new mount can really do.  But then, I guess all of us in the UK are feeling frustrated.  The past 12 months have been awful weather wise...

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Grotemobile

Grotemobile

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Thanks Peter, thanks OldPink.

If only we'd have some clear nights I could see what my new mount can really do.  But then, I guess all of us in the UK are feeling frustrated.  The past 12 months have been awful weather wise...

I have been lucky here on the south coast, because I

have has a quite a few good nights.Great picture by the

way .

Steve

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  • 5 months later...
barkis

barkis

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Superbly detailed object and very well processed. 

Reading about this object indicates that there is a huge arc loop

around it, suggesting a minor merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy way back in time.

The loop did show in an Image taken with the .5 metre   Blackbird remote telescope.

Hope you don't mind the added Info Ian, it is not intended to detract from your fine accomplishment here.

Ron.

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x6gas

x6gas

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Blimey - thanks Georgie mc for bringing this thread back to life!  And thanks Barry, Knight of Clear Skies, Lensman, Olly, Tich, and Ron or the kind comments.

Great detail in the dust lanes. 2800mm focal length, that must be quite a challenge.

It is a bit of a challenge, yes!  This was first light with my iOptron CEM60-EC mount and I stuck the Edge on the mount just to see what it could do.  It did pretty well especially since this was with the first consumer release of the mount's firmware and it has been refined and got better and better with each release.  The mount has almost no backlash even at this focal length so I got much better guiding in DEC right out of the box than I ever did with my CGEM DX despite a hypertune and lots of fettling (and basically making sure that the mount only guided in one direction).  So in short a lot of credit goes to the mount for this data.  It's a lot less data than I'd usually like to work with but I didn't lose a sub and it processed up quite well - good enough that it was actually published in the August issue of Astronomy Now.

Superbly detailed object and very well processed. 

Reading about this object indicates that there is a huge arc loop

around it, suggesting a minor merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy way back in time.

The loop did show in an Image taken with the .5 metre   Blackbird remote telescope.

Hope you don't mind the added Info Ian, it is not intended to detract from your fine accomplishment here.

Ron.

Course not Ron - it's always good to know more about an object.  Based on your information I found this image which now makes me want to go back and see if I could capture the halo with an 11" scope; I'm sure I'd need a darker sky than I have here at home... maybe when I finally get around to booking a visit to Olly's...

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symesie04

symesie04

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Cracking shot, stunning tracking at 2800mm.

Great work...wonder if I can mount a C11 Edge on my AstroTrac :)

Funny enough i have a c8 and they are surprisingly light for their bulk. I keep thinking about trying it on my Astrotrac but since i havent made the most of my lenses yet its really a case of wanting to run before i can walk :(

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x6gas

x6gas

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Great work...wonder if I can mount a C11 Edge on my AstroTrac :)

Ha! To be honest I've never really managed to get anything decent from my AstroTrac but that's mostly through lack of practice, I think... the results I see from you and others are stunning but the Edge 11 is a bit of a beast and maybe a tad too much :-)

Cracking shot, stunning tracking at 2800mm.

Thanks a lot - the guide graphs are enough to turn you grey, but it sort of works out in the end.  The stars are certainly not perfect and I am guilty of focusing on the galaxy and not properly looking after the star field.  I am sure that the mount will perform better now anyway, so the starting point with the data will be better.  The collimation was also a bit off but then my seeing isn't great so it probably doesn't matter too much for DSO images - it's astounding how well the images sharpen up, though...

Brilliant :)

Thanks Gina - your continued encouragement has kept me going on my imaging journey - I owe you a lot!

Wow,what a beautiful image,especially as I consider this a difficult one.

Well done indeed.

Mick.

Thanks Mick - it's a lovely target.  My first process of this data was underwhelming to say the least.  Ages ago Olly wrote a post about getting to know a target and how data responds and I have found that to be very true.  Trouble is I am not expert enough to know what to tweak and how so often just go back to the beginning and try again!  For me it's therefore a bit trial and error but I am learning slowly!

Thanks again for all the great comments and likes - much appreciated!

Cheers, Ian

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