M51 first attempt at a galaxy.....

[stan26]

Hi folks, this is my 2nd DSO attempt and first galaxy the M51. Although I know it's not the greatest picture I'am really chuffed that I managed to capture somthing like this Its still early days for me with astronomy, photography and photo editing in particular......

This was using my usual Un-guided EQ3-2, with startravel 102, and canon 500D prime focus as per my sig.

148 x 30sec subs @ ISO800 & 1600. No darks, No flats, Just 50 x Bias frames using kappa sigma mode in DSS, as per suggest by a member on here.

Histogram stretching done in photoshop CS2 + other editing to get rid of the awful CA. Bit of a widefield M51 I know but I prefer the final result with a wide crop.....

Any CC welcome, I need to learn...

Regards, Stan:)

[samtheeagle]

That's a VERY impressive result Stan! Loads of detail in there, I'd certainly be pleased with that one, so don't be too hard on it Good work on removing the CA too. I used to use a Celestron C102 wideview, and that gave me awful blue/purple stars.

Great effort, I'm impressed!

[GrantEb]

That is seriously impressive, especially through a ST102 and unguided. Nice result!

[ollypenrice]

I agree. That is a great result from modest equipment. The sky is uniform, the stars not far from round and the galaxy clear and showing structure. Very well done indeed.

Olly

[stan26]

Cheers guys. One day il have me an heq5 topped with some APO glass, but for now il have to make do with the EQ3 and 102. chromatic abberation is a pain in the butt though and although I can get rid of the purple halos around the stars it can't be doing wonders for the overall quality of the image, and I'm having to bin a huge amount of my subs due to tracking error etc.

Thanks

Stan

[jayjt29]

GREAT effort mate, as above dont be to harsh on yourself. If i get as half as good as image on my first galaxy id be happy!

Again well done mate

Jay

[dc509]

Excellent, especially for the 1st time - much better than my own efforts!

[Altair]

Looks really beautiful! Clever you!

[Foton Finder]

Beautiful image, Stan!!!

I've seen M-51 hundreds of times, and soon I hope to get my first CCD image, too. I'll be contacting you for pointers!

Clear skies.

[ykket]

i like the details!

[cloudbuster]

Thats a really nice image of m51....ive been having a go at this target for some time now, and your first effort exceeds the quality of mine quite easily.