Another M82

[Ford Prefect]

Friday 3rd February looked as though it was going to be a perfectly clear evening, so I went down to the Observatory at about 5 o’clock to set up, I had bought a new dew band from FLO for the QHY8 camera which I attached to the nosepiece to stop it dewing up, I then rolled of the roof switched everything on and went back up to the house to enjoy a glass of wine.

Once it was dark enough I went back down to the observatory to set up for the imaging run, I had decided I wanted to image a Galaxy due to the field of view of the C11 and QHY8 really lends itself to galaxy hunting. The chosen galaxy was M82, this was the same galaxy I had used on the previous evenings while I had been testing that the guiding was working correctly and which I posted last week.

One of the joys of a permanent setup is how quickly you can setup and begin imagining, alignment, focus and guiding took approx 15 mins and by 6.30pm I was watching the camera download 20 minutes subs of M82. Although the PHD graph was a little up and down guiding seem to be working really well and the stars were looking nice and round.

I had set the system up to capture 3 hours worth of data so there was nothing to do but sit back and watch Starship Troopers on BBC iplayer and watch the images as they rolled in every 20 minutes.

Although it was a very clear night and perfect for imagining it was also very cold the temperature got down to -7.5° it was so cold that my diet Coke actually froze!!!

Once I’ve completed my nine subs I went on and collected hundred and one bias and hundred and one flatfield frames, as I placed the ELsheet on the scope I noticed that all of the equipment in the Observatory was covered with a thin film of ice luckily though everything in the warm room was still nice and dry. I eventually closed at the Observatory at 1 o’clock in the morning pleased that I’ve captured some good data.

The image was processed using photoshop CS2, Noels actions and Noise Ninja, I seem to be still struggling with the colour balance, I’m wondering whether it’s got something to do with not using any filters in my current imaging setup, saying that this is probably the best image I have ever gone out of the C11 and to be honest and one of the best images I think I’ve ever taken, it just goes to show that longer subs means more data and data is king when it comes to producing some good images.

Mount: EQ6 via EQMOD

OTA: C11 Edge HD @ f/10.0

Guiding: OAG + Meade DSI + PHD

Imaging: QHY8 9 x 1200s,

[Zul]

Very nice image!

[Quatermass]

Oh to have a nice observatory and get out of the cold one day one day. Nice image with good colours in there, I think you have got the right idea there glass of wine and stay in the warm.

[Ford Prefect]

I passed the raw data from this image over to my mate SteveL just to see what a proficient image processer can achieve.

I have to say he has done a far better job that I ever could, but its really nice to see what to aim for. thanks Steve!!!!

Cheers Jon

For the larger version click >>HERE<<

[SteveL]

Thanks for the chance to have a dabble with the data, its been far too long since I have been out and taken data of my own, so this was a refresher to show that I havent lost the plot just yet

[Fay]

Very nice process indeed, Jon. Nice capture.

I envy your observatory.

I was out there in the snow the other night, sitting on a pet bed warmer that I had warmed up in the microwave. It was soooo hot, I burnt my rear end.

Fay

[morimarty]

Hi jon, I found the c11 a very demanding scope at the begining. but when things go right it can certainly deliver as your image of m82 shows. 20 min subs is some going @ 2800fl. i have to say i do prefer the mk2 version but thats just personel taste. if you can add some Ha data too. it should bring out the filiment jets in the core region. a great image well done.

ATB martyn

[Tim]

Very nice John, the long focal length has really helped get some excellent detail in the dust lanes here. As mentioned above, some really deep Ha subs would really set this image off.

Cheers

Tim

[Tom OD]

Thats a better pic in the re-process I have to say.

But the data was there in the 1st place, good job to the 2 of you.

Tom

[MidnightSun]

Fantastic image there....

[MidnightSun]

Fantastic image there...

[MidnightSun]

SOrry bout the multiple posts....something bumped i guess