M33 - Triangulum Galaxy

[x6gas]

This is my first try at M33 - the Triangulum Galaxy - taken on bonfire night, 2012. It was a bit misty (maybe thanks to the fireworks!) and so the subs were rather noisy - disappointingly so... but actually given that it wasn't particularly clear I am not unhappy with this so far. I had the narrowband filters loaded in the filter wheel and so only took Lum data.

This is 5 1/2 hours of data in 10 minute subs, TS90 APO triplet f/6.7 taken with an Atik 460ex, guided with IMG0H and PHD. This lot mounted on my CG-5.

Stacked and stretched in AstroArt 5.0 with a gentle low pass filter applied to try to calm the noise in the background. I think I'd do much better on a clearer night but given the weather this year I am taking everything I can get... I will add RGB when I get the chance and I am actually not sure if this data will be good enough to form the Lum layer...

[Gina]

Good start

[stellawolf]

Indeed a good start well done

[James]

It looks pretty good to me - M33 is an odd target that looks 'noisy' anyway

James

[astro mick]

Not bad at all.

Mick.

[Coco]

Very nice, and considering the Moon was just over the horizon its very well controlled, It'll be a cracker if you do the RGB before the end of the month.. no pressure then

[x6gas]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone - much appreciated.

Yes with the moon and high cloud I'll settle for this... Who knows when I'll get the chance to get the RGB though!

[ollypenrice]

Well I think that looks great. As James said, M33 has a noisy, 'speckled' look which never goes away so what you are capturing is detail. You'd maybe get a little more of the faint outer disk glow with more time but I think you have a great L layer there.

Olly

[MikeD]

Very nice detail and good tight stars, congrats.

looking forward to the LRGB.

Mike.

[x6gas]

Thanks Olly and Mike; feedback makes all the difference for us fledgling imagers!

This capture is growing on me, but I know it would have been much smoother on a better night...

Anyway, now wrestling with the choice between trying to grab some 2x2 RGB data on the next clear night or going 1x1 binning and accepting that it will be some time before I get enough data to see this in colour.

I'd love to have a good, deep image of this so I'm thinking I'll go the whole hog on this one... and accepting that it might not be finished until next year!