M63 - The Sunflower galaxy

[sologuitarist61]

Excellent detail!

[swag72]

Thanks all for looking and commenting - Onwards and upwards as they say

[PhotoGav]

My school song, when I was little (age 7 to 12), went "Onwards and upwards, bearing the burdens...". I find myself singing that in my head almost everyday!!!

[morimarty]

I think you have worked wonders with the sct Sara, especially with this image being you're first full colour galaxy at such difficult Focal length / ratio well done!

[earth titan]

Really, really nice image. Lovely detail.

[swag72]

Thanks Martyn and Tom, much appreciated

[ollypenrice]

Absolutely Olly! I challenge anyone to better it!!!!

As for doing some work... You call that work?! Chatting with nice people and looking at the stars...?!!!?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Damn, you've seen through my masquerade...

Olly

[Baffa]

Looks really nice! Love the detail, specially the core. Man, All these great images, think I have to save for a long focal length instrument for the galaxy season.... ;-)

Sent from Xperia Z1 using Tapatalk.

[carastro]

Excellent image Sara.  Did you post it anywhere else as I've not seen this one before?

18 hours, don't think I've had 18 hours this year!!  

I have no experience of imaging with an SCT but from what i have read it looks like you have done wonders with it.  

Carole 

[sulaco]

Great image, has a kind of tilt shift effect.

[swag72]

Thanks for the comments

@Carole - This image has only been posted on SGL - You've not seen it before

[dave_galera]

Brilliant image with your new scope Sara, and great detail in the core.....and again the amount of data has paid-off!!

I have my Edge HD up and running but like you finding it very different to the Tak refractor, and am I also finding the images are a bit on the soft side (with a 8300 sensor) and its a pig to get correct focus using FocusMax.

Yet another learning curve we are climbing. Well done again.

[Sp@ce_d]

Brilliant image with your new scope Sara, and great detail in the core.....and again the amount of data has paid-off!!

I have my Edge HD up and running but like you finding it very different to the Tak refractor, and am I also finding the images are a bit on the soft side (with a 8300 sensor) and its a pig to get correct focus using FocusMax.

Yet another learning curve we are climbing. Well done again.

Interesting to see similar observations from people moving from imaging with fracs. Must admit I hadn't been aware of the "soft" perception before I got mine. It was Sara's fantastic "Tadpoles" with the C9.25 that convinced me to get one. So, even if I end up just doing NB it'll be worth it. It's a cracking scope visually too. I'm sure it's just another learning curve with RGB anyway.

I managed to get my imaging train aligned with the Moonlite at the weekend & actually got a star for long enough to crack the collimation woes I've had. Or so I believe.

What do you think the issues are with FocusMax Dave?

My next job will be setting FocusMax up. It seemed to go ok last time I tested it, compared with a Bahtinov, but of course I was fighting collimation issues.

[dave_galera]

Interesting to see similar observations from people moving from imaging with fracs. Must admit I hadn't been aware of the "soft" perception before I got mine. It was Sara's fantastic "Tadpoles" with the C9.25 that convinced me to get one. So, even if I end up just doing NB it'll be worth it. It's a cracking scope visually too. I'm sure it's just another learning curve with RGB anyway.

I managed to get my imaging train aligned with the Moonlite at the weekend & actually got a star for long enough to crack the collimation woes I've had. Or so I believe.

What do you think the issues are with FocusMax Dave?

My next job will be setting FocusMax up. It seemed to go ok last time I tested it, compared with a Bahtinov, but of course I was fighting collimation issues.

I did a set of V-curves (12 in all) and when I tried to focus I got a FWHM of 8 arcsecs, then I realised I had got the preferred directions and backlash directions all wrong. Once corrected I got an FWHM of 2-3 arcsecs which is still not good enough.  So maybe the V-curves are all up the wall because of the wrong direction settings when I did them, so I am going to do a new set once the naff weather in Spain decides to improve. I am using a Lakeside focuser whcih works just greate on the Tak refractor. Also think collimation might just be a tad off.

Would be nice to know what FWHM (in arcsecs) others are getting with an SCT, am I expecting toooooo much?

Dave

[swag72]

Cheers Dave - It's certainly a different ball game in all respects with the SCT. An FWHM of 2-3? Oh my, I could only dream of that - I was getting 4-5!!