M33 "pop art" (a little mishap)

[Astrogeordie]

Last Tuesday (2011 Nov 22) evening we had a clear spell. Hence I opened up my shed to point the 10" GSO-RC on the EQ6 pro towards M33. Later the Crab nebula was on the agenda but it clouded up after one hour.

On the other EQ6, the OMC250 revealed on Jupiter that the seeing was atrocious. Apart from the two main cloud stripes, no detail emerged and I just used this occasion for a coarse optical alignment.

Back to M33. Next day saw me reducing the data with DeepSkyStacker and Canon Digital Photo Professional. Hence I pointed DSS to the Biases, Darks, Flats and Lights and off it went. 27 x 2 minutes - I could not expect a deep image but howay as the Geordie says.

When contrasting with the Canon software I got surprised:

What has happened ?

Was the self made stop at the secondary of the GSO still not large enough, so I got straylight intake ?

Will I ever get proper flats ?

Is my technique with the pillow case - multi layered over the front of the scope, held in place with elastic band and shone at with my white LED torch - inappropriate ?

Looking at the flats .... one of them seemed a bit out but I was not sure. So let's try it and remove it from the stack. Going to DSS, I could not find the file name !

Actually there were no flats with the file names of last night, but flats were there !

Only ...

... I am a SAUSAGE !

The flats I chose were - in total error - of another night one month ago, taken with another camera through another telescope (200/1000mm Newtonian) !

After this "small correction" ...

or a brighter version (depends on screen ...):

I hope you like it a bit. My partner found the "colourful" version nicer - but this is rather down to an arty taste than astronomy I suppose.

[rocketandroll]

That's pretty cool, with or without the pop-art colouring :-)

Amazing amount of detail for less than an hour of data!

M33 has to be high on my list once my 1.2m fl Newt arrives next week!

Ben

[sulaco]

I love the pop art one best, that would make an impressive large scale print..

[Astrogeordie]

Hi,

thanks for your comments. Yes, the amount of detail is not bad for 54 minutes. However, it is a 250mm instrument - not to forget.

@Ben - is it a 250/1200 ? Should be a nice powerful instrument then - I have a self made one of this size. However, for photography I would put a coma corrector onto your wishlist.

[fwm891]

I know the feeling - out in the cold and DSS does its bit 4 U

Not just this shot but a couple of others. I ended up stacking the frames individually in PS.

Then yesterday DSS plays ball - same files

[Astrogeordie]

Oops, what happened there.

Are the blue lines indeed introduced by DSS ?

Never had one of those. I just remember problems with wide angle exposures where one side of the image "ran away" as the stars formed trails, while the other side was okay ...