wimvb

I think that most of the smaller specks are indeed galaxies rather than stars.I haven't checked all the details yet, but some of the named galaxies in this image are 850 Mly away. I think that if I check some of the others, they will be more than a billion light years away.

Thanks,, Göran. The reddish colour is a combination of old stars with interspersed Ha regions near the core, PixInsight's colour calibration and my processing (arcsinh stretch intensifies colour). I have seen all kinds of colour combinations in this galaxy, from blue to red. But if this colour scheme can become an APOD, I can't be too far off. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140421.html

Ngc 2841 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. Its distance is approximately 46 Mly. It is a flocculent galaxy with discontinuous arms Ngc 2841 has an extended, very weak outer halo that needs long integration times to reveal. The small galaxy in the lower left is pgc 26572 (MCG+09-16-008), at a distance of approximately 140 Mly Towards the upper right corner there are a few small galaxies which are at a distance of 830 - 850 Mly. A reprocess, with a less red in the galaxy and better star control Acquisition details: Skywatcher MN190 on SW AZ-EQ6 mount Camera ZWO ASI174MM-Cool with ZWO filters (LRGB) and ZWO off axis guider L: 104 x 2 min R: 40 x 4 min G: 35 x 4 min B: 35 x 4 min Total integration time 648 minutes (10.8 hours) collected over 2 nights Processed in PixInsight. Inverted luminance with rgb insert. This image shows the weak extension of the main galaxy The dark patch in the upper right corner is the reflection of a bright star (magnitude 6.5) just outside the field of view.

For £ 2000 1980 (you really need the book that @Skipper Billy suggested), you should be able to get an eq mount, scope and camera (essential for astro photography). The HEQ5 mount is about £800. Next step up would be an EQ6, which has more carrying capacity, and as such is a little more future proof. Next a telescope, either a reflector (SW 130 PDS @ £180 or the 150 PDS @ £230, with coma corrector @ £130 - 230) or a refractor (SW 80ED @ £380 + flattener £170). Finally a camera, probably a Canon DSLR. The SW 130 PDS has its own imaging thread on this forum. With a little TLC, this scope can produce stunning results. You will need an adapter to fit the camera to the scope. Depending on your local sky conditions you may need a light pollution filter. To help with focusing, get a Bahtinov mask. And last but certainly not least, image processing software: Startools, PhotoShop, PixInsight, Astro Pixel Processer, etc.

Sure. Enjoy your man cave. (I read the sign)

A few nights ago there was a gap in the clouds and I started an imaging sequence. Guiding was good, seeing ok, so I started a sequence with 25 x 2 min L, then 10 x 4 min R, G, B. Mid into G, clouds moved in and I had to abort the sequence. Would OSC have been better? At least I would have had data for a complete image, right? Not in my opinion. That image would not have been good by any means. I would still need to collect more data in order to get anything presentable. 1 1/2 hours just isn't enough time, whatever technology you use. Even if clouds had moved in after a complete LRGB cycle, that wouldn't have been enough. I know that with my cmos camera, I need at least 100 L subs and some 30 RGB subs for an image that I can process the way I want it. But with the L that I collected, I have the beginning of what can become a good image. And I can probably use the R, and maybe even the G in the final image. OSC wouldn't have been any faster. And processing mono isn't any more complicated than osc. PixInsight takes care of the subs being calibrated correctly, and with subfame selector, I can choose exactly which frames to use of each filter. This gives me more freedom than osc.

Have you tried making two versions? One artistic, where you throw science out the window, and one as close as possible to being scientifically correct. Then evaluate both and figure out how you can get the best of both worlds. In my personal opinion, as soon as we start stretching an image in various ways, and start using masks, we've basically decided to throw much of science out. A good astro image is aesthetically pleasing but also has a story to tell. The image doesn't have to be strictly correct, but it shouldn't deviate too much from "the truth". That part of AP is always a personal balancing act.

Excellent. The IDAS filter is much better than the Optolong filter for this target, imo. Alnitak is bloated, but that's ok. You have more definition in the dark/weak areas. And you kept the flame separated from the Ha cloud with the Horsehead. 👍

I use photometric colour calibration in pixinsight. It seems to do the job ok. But the final colour depends very much on how you stretch the image. Mark Shelleys arcsinh stretch (available in pi and Photoshop) keeps colour ratios far better than other stretches. To keep colour in the stars, you have to be careful during data capture, and during stretching. Stretching will inevitably lead to bloating of stars, which also means white stars.

Hmm, an open cluster in a rich star field. Exciting. 😉 Still a very nice open cluster and a very nice star field. Lovely colours.

Excellent image, Göran. Hmm, my mount won't carry two mn190's. Sometime in the (probably distant) future, I must join the Mesu elite. Until then, I can only Muse over the idea. 🙂

With mono you have more options. You can do narrowband. You can image for detail when seeing is good, and colour when seeing is bad. RGB filters generally have a stopband at the Na/Hg wavelength. Mono is not slower than osc. With an electric filter wheel, you can alternate filters to shoot all colours during one session.

@ninosr: I use Thonny ide. https://thonny.org/ Also have a look here https://randomnerdtutorials.com/getting-started-thonny-micropython-python-ide-esp32-esp8266/ I have the impression that it gives me more streamlined code than the arduino ide, but I could be wrong of course. Anyway, the ide is simple and easy to use. Rather than uploading files, you save them as if the esp were a storage device. For the meteo station, I can even have icon image files uploaded. But you do need to first burn firmware to the esp. It's all in the tutorial (2nd link).

Yes, great image of that horsey in the sky. I think it's a characteristic of your filter, but the flame has lost its golden colour.

If you go by the numbers, the 150pds @ 5kgs should fit on an eq5, which has a capacity of 10 kgs. But it isn't just about the numbers. The 150pds is larger than the recommended 130pds, so it's more of a sail in the wind. Depending on where you put it, it may or may not work. If you treat the mount well and balance the load on it, it may perform past its recommended limit. Back to the numbers, what focal length do you like? All three scopes (130pds, 150pds, 200pds) are f/5, so 650, 750, 1000 mm respectively. Before deciding, check a fov calculator to see what fl best suits your intended targets.

Excellent image. What processing software do you use? There are a few good tutorials on processing this kind of images using Pixinsight. http://www.deepskycolors.com/archivo/2010/05/07/multi-scale-Processing--Revealing-very.html http://www.deepskycolors.com/archivo/2010/05/01/luminance-Processing--Making-the-Ifn-p.html

The beauty with this scope is that all critical distances are inside the tube. This means that once you have it collimated, you can just pop in the camera and you're set. If you only use the camera without oag/filter wheel, you may want to add a spacer so you don't need to pull out the extension tube or the draw tube. These can cause flexure. With my ASI, oag and filter wheel, focus is only 10-15 mm from all the way in, and it seems stable. But I put a piece of aluminium tape on the extension tube to make the focuser more stable.

I won't tell either. 😉

Great image. I agree with Vlad, don't try to remove the halos.

Only 5 (!) subjects for me last year. All with the SW MN190 and ZWO ASI174MM-Cool. Not always as much data as I would like. ngc 2683 ngc 4565 Arp 217 (ngc 3310) M106 M63

I took the liberty of downloading your original L image and your final colour image. I then combined the two in PixInsight. Never mind the colours, this kind of combination should be done with original data, and not with lossy jpegs. It seems to me that your data has more to offer than what is in your final image. Even with just 3 hours of L, you have more of the jets of M82, and even some of the IFN that is surrounding these galaxies. There's also more structure in your original M82, which you should be able to keep with careful stretching and hdr processing.

Nice! You're getting there. The extra data really lifts the image. I think you can safely darken the background a little to give the galaxies a little more punch. Also, when doing noise reduction (which, btw, you may not need with 8 hrs lum data), consider using a mask that has the background at 50%. This will leave some noise, but at the same time also the natural variation as a texture. What is your sky darkness? At 23 hrs captured, you may have ifn in the background.

It's easier if you show a few pictures with what you have.

The T-ring should have a bayonet connector that fits on the body of the canon, without any lenses attached. The other side of the ring screws into the field flattener of your scope. The T-ring should look like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/skywatcher-dslr-m48-ring-adapter.html

The problem with imaging under light polluted skies (including moon lightl) is that you need a very long integration time to get the noise down to an acceptable level.