gorann

I think the original one is still the best. In the third version you lost the colour and brightness of the core, making it a bit flat. Keep working on it Steve👍

I have just balanced the colours with levels in PS for the darkest parts of the image, so no SPCC (never used it as I am mainly a PS person). The red signal was there and I liked it but I could of course desaturate it. However, what you picked up with the Ha filter may suggest that I am not all wrong with that reddish tone.

Here is my recent image of it with RASA8 and no filter. Looks like IFN with a bit of reddish tone than may indicate some Ha that you managed to pick up. Actually a lot of IFN all around: https://www.astrobin.com/uahkpy/

I have to admit that I have not used it yet since my RASAs appear to have kept their collimation. Now I have lost astrodarkness so it will not happen for a while. Sorry!

I had a quick look at the more recent of the 500+ images there is of this galaxy on Astrobin. Most are only (L)RGB but this one has Ha data and there does not seem to be much Ha in the galaxy: https://www.astrobin.com/m16gbx/

Nice end to the season - I closed the obsy two days ago. We just have to enjoy the Nordic summer!

Thanks Roy! Yes, I also think I see movement in the image from right to left. I assume it could be an illusion created by some kind of interstellar "wind" pushing on the dust from left to right.

For some reason there are very few images of these rather striking dust structures not far from Polaris. I get the impression that the dust is lit up by some of the brighter stars in the image and it is therefore probably not Integrated Flux Nebulosity (which is lit up by the collective radiation of our galaxy) Sadly this was the last capture for the season for me since I have now lost astrodarkness up here (60° N) for a few months. I guess I will just have to enjoy the summer. Captured with my dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 160 x 3 minutes, so 8 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including all the XTerminator procedures. Cheers, Göran

Black Eye Galaxy (M64) and the Sturgeon Nebula This large molecular cloud (or IFN) near M64 does apparently not have a name or catalogue entry. I could not find any previous image on Astrobin that shows the full extension of the cloud, and when I see it I see a sturgeon (maybe because I am a fish biologist). Head to the left and the typical asymmetrical tail to the right. Also the image reveal more of the outer dust of M64 than usually captured with longer focal length scopes that are typically used for imaging galaxies. Captured 20-21 April 2023 with my dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 152 x 3 min, so 7.6 hours. Processed in PI and PS with the new XTerminator procedures. Cheers, Göran

M94, NGC4618 and NGC4625 Astrodarkness is rapidly dissapearing here at 60°N and at the end of the season I have hunted a few galaxies with my dual-RASA8 rig. It is good at revealing outer dust layers and despite its short focal length it is not that bad at resolving details in the cores of bigger galaxies. I do not think I have seen an image of M94 with such an extensive and distinct outer ring. Captured 19-20 April 2023. Dual-RASA8 rig with ASI2600MC (no filter) on a Mesu 200. 114 x 3 minutes, so about 6 hours. Processed in PI and PS with all the new XTerminator procedures of course. Cheers, Göran

A very nice start. Put your computer in Airplane mode so it does not communicate with the outside world. That reduces the risk of Windows stopping your capture.

Great galaxy images! In fact you can even image PNs with a RASA, in this case M97 and RASA 8 with IDAS NBZ filter a few nights ago. The faint outer ring was of course no problem for the RASA.

Lovely image and as Steve says very likable silvery tones!

Well, to ZWO's defence on this detail: you would only have to focus the guide-sensor once (after you focused the main sensor), after that it will be in focus as long as you have the main sensor in focus. But a focusing nob there should not be needed if they had bothered to make the sensors parafocal to start with. Maybe it could be needed for scopes with a large field curvature, but you would not like to have that for astrophoto anyhow.

Great image! Actually quite spectacular. Nothing like a RASA if you want to capture both dust and galaxies! First I wondered why I missed this spectacular galaxy and then I realized that it is the same one I captured with my 14" Meade a few years ago - without tidal streams and not much dust, so very different, and I see your point about your old TEC image. Göran

Where is that announced? I cannot find anything on their facebook page but then I hardly know how facebook works....

Yes, any non-circular filter just covering the main sensor would likely be disastrous due to reflections so I doubt that ZWO would offer that. A set up like this would just limit your options for what you can do with your system. And why do it? Fitting in an OAG into your optical train is not a major problem in my experience, and many filter wheels (e.g. Starlight XPress) come with a built in OAG.

It is an old idea than never took off since it will be behind any filter. I agree with @wimvb, it would give you a lot a frustrating nights without finding a guide star when you have a NB filter in the optical path. Even with a OSC you want to put a dual or triple band filter in when the moon is up or the Bortle is high and then 3 s exposures for the guide camera would probably exclude it from picking up any stars.

That is an excellent image of M51 Steve! Soft but still sharp. If it worries you why not just revert to the older version of IC4277 - a 1 minute job with a layer and brush tool in PS.

Yes, I have only noted that blueish arch in a few other images, and then in very deep ones, like this IOTD: https://www.astrobin.com/341033/E/

Hope you get the chance of collecting more. With 620 FL you should theoretically be able to get a bit more detail if sky conditions and integration time are the same. I worked a bit more on bringing out dust and fine details on mine (some sharpening and deconvolution) and added Ha data to M81 that @wimvb just gave me: CS, Göran

Thanks Wim! Apparently a very busy area, but most of them will be very dim and fuzzy indeed.

Thanks a lot Simmo - you will get there as these are amazing objects that you will always come back to.

Thanks Wim! If we are looking at the same structures I think you can even see them in your own image: https://www.astrobin.com/0rzx71/

Thanks a lot Simmo!