tomato

You have captured and processed a beautiful and intriguing image of M51. At the risk of resurrecting an old debate, I think your image ably demonstrates there is no right answer to the question "have a I got the colours right with this galaxy image?" In most M51 images I have seen the spiral arms are predominantly blue but by capturing more Ha you have made these regions much more significant in the final image, and both renditions are equally valid IMHO. +1 for the MN190, it provides the same FOV as an Esprit 150 and clearly can produce images of equal quality, FLO current prices £4729 vs £1249 for the MN190...

I don’t own a ZWO ASI 2600MC but I do have the QHY and Risingcam versions. The only problem I have with maintaining the temperature while I create a darks library is if I attempt this inside the closed dome during a warm day when the internal temp is 25 degrees C or higher. The cooler capacity moves to 100% over the course of a few subs and then the set pt temp is no longer maintained. There is no problem however if the ambient temp is < 15 deg C and there is adequate ventilation around the camera.

The example you have posted is much bigger in RA, so potentially some random stiction of the RA drive (tight spot), or contamination on a gear tooth? No chance of anything nocturnal brushing against the mount or scope?

Here is another mosaic of the Virgo region, with M60 in the lower left and M58 in the upper right. 3 panels each of 90 x 2 min subs taken with the Esprit 150/IMX 571 OSC rig. SN 2022 hrs in NGC 4647 is also in there. Calibrated, stacked and mosaic assembled in APP, processed in APP, PI and AP. Imaged and presented at native resolution, 0.713 arcsec per pixel.

Unfortunately the ASI1600s I have seen do suffer from amp glow on extended exposures, a general glow down the RHS. @Tomatobro has an Atik OSC version which is particularly bad in this respect. I’ve always used darks with my IMX571c sensor cameras, but sounds like I should experiment.

You have made excellent use of your old and new data, 11 hrs is clearly not too much integration on M51. It’s a great image, skillfully processed.👍

Here is a crop of a panel taken as part of a mosaic of M58/M59. 85 x 2 min subs taken with Esprit 150/IMX 571 OSC. Would certainly be spectacular to a resident of the host galaxy.

I've never imaged this galaxy so I have nothing I can compare it to directly, but looking at published images, I think getting definition in the outer limbs on this galaxy is quite challenging. Interestingly you have good detail in the brightest core region but less so as you move out. I wonder if there was some thin cloud affecting the sky transparency? Were your FWHM numbers on the subs poorer than average?

I’m not a lunar or planetary imager but for the best results a short video clip is taken of the subject and then specialist software (available for free) is used to pick the sharpest individual frames from the video (when random blurring caused by our turbulent atmosphere is at a minimum), these are then aligned and stacked by the software to improve the signal to noise ratio. As you are already aware, for planets you will need a suitable lens to make the image a reasonable size in the field of view. Again, as you already know, long FL telescopes of a reasonable aperture are used to improve the level of detail captured. If the moon and planets are definitely your preferred subjects a scope like this might be a good choice but you would also need a mount to put it on. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-ota.html I’m afraid I am about at the limit of my planetary imaging and telescope knowledge, so I would see what the lunar/planetary folks advise.

+1 for getting hold of a copy of “Making every photon count” by Steve Richards, and have a look through the “getting started with imaging” section on here. For optimum results different subjects require different equipment, so a one size fits all set up will inevitably be a compromise. Occasionally you get an imager selling their entire setup in the classified section, so that would make your budget go further, but be aware that a number have folks have jumped in trying to get a complex set up running from the start and have got frustrated and consequently disillusioned with the hobby, which is a shame. Try and get some results early on, I found this really motivating to continue the imaging journey which I have found immensely rewarding, even if it has emptied my wallet along the way.

I'm sure this will be on the list at some point but do a JWST 'Deep Field' just like the HST.

Thanks for posting. Under NINA my 268c goes to 100% cooling upon start of cool down momentarily, but the cooling behaviour is normal after that. I did see a low supply voltage warning a while back but the camera was fine after a restart and it has not recurred since.

There was a big fireball over Shropshire recently and analysis of the images captured indicated fragments may have made it through to the ground, including my back garden! I have had a look but alas no meteorite was found imbedded in my patio or driveway.

Nice! When attempting a bat/squid capture with the RASA I had the SY135/G28300 running on the dual rig and did it the other way round and chopped off half of the Elephant’s trunk region. ☺️

Nicely framed and a with a colour pallet not often seen, but as you say there are elephant’s trunks out there all the colours of the rainbow, and then some. Imaging off the beaten track certainly has it’s challenges and rewards but I think it’s nice to come back to the mainstream items once in a while.

Sorry, my face starts to turn the same shade as the gif if I look at it for too long.🤢

My dome observatory is tucked up right in the corner of the garden, it’s on a 6” deep concrete plinth so my horizons are not affected by the adjacent garden fences, the neighbouring houses on the estate and a ruddy great oak tree nearby have much more of an impact. I guess my neighbours think I have a bottle bank in the corner of our garden but I’ve never had any comments, adverse or otherwise.

Here is another example, NINA executed the meridian flip and platesolved and adjusted the scope pointing until it was within NINA's tolerance (whatever that is). I'm running a very heavy dual rig so I never get my cameras perfectly aligned so I always have to crop anyway. Apologies for being so cavalier with my sensor real estate, but my excuse is I'm imaging galaxies.

You can drift align with your camera with some cross hairs superimposed on the image. You basically see if the star is drifting up or down over time and adjust the alt/az on the mount accordingly. There was a really good how to guide on drift aligning on Ian King's website , I don't know if it found its way on to FLO's resources page when he joined them.

First off, congratulate yourself on a nice first image of M51, you have both colour and detail there. As you have already established, a screwed together imaging train will help no end, particularly if you are dismantling and setting up each time. I started out by attaching the camera into the focuser with an extension tube and it was hit and miss as to how much tilt was introduced each time. Are you focussing with a Bahtinov mask? This aid will ensure good focus each time, templates are available on line for all sizes of scopes if you want to make your own. Your imaging scale is 1.84 arcsec per pixel if I have entered your kit correctly into the calculator, so that’s fine. Get your PA as good as possible (use the drift alignment method if you do this by eye) and limit your subs to 30 secs or less and take lots of them. Finally are you calibrating your data with darks, flats and dark flats? It’s important to capture these at the same camera temperature as your lights, but it won’t take long with sub minute light subs.

There is still a few hours of Astro darkness left, the trouble is a lot of targets have passed the meridian before it arrives. Myself and @Tomatobro are ironing out the final bugs in the dome auto control system so I can let sessions complete unattended so I’m not up until silly o’clock to get the most out of the Astro darkness remaining.

With astro darkness rapidly dwindling I realised another season will pass without me having a go at the Leo Triplet. So this is the best 180 x 2 min subs from 7 hours of data captured with the dual Esprit 150/IMX571 OSC rig. About 40% of the data was captured in Nautical rather than astro darkness. Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in APP,PI and AP. Presented at the original sampling of 0.714 arcsec per pixel. Thanks for looking.

Lots of hydrogen out there but as you say no hidden Squid like OIII nebulae visible. I think I prefer the first one, has more dynamic range to my eye.

My pointing model is slightly off but I platesolve at the start of every session, takes about 30 secs so then I’m good to go at centering on the target.

I prefer the second one, the background sky is a velvety black on the first version, and I agree that it looks clipped compared to the second. Great dust lane detail.👍