I can see M101 clearly now the snow has gone...

[SteveL]

Got caught in a mini-blizzard while driving home last night, but the satellite images showed it was due to clear up afterwards... and it did! Not a great night, a bit milky up there, but no moon and no storm force wind blowing everything around the garden.

M101 and M51 have both started to clear the house at a decent time of the evening (well, actually thats a lie, this was started at 1am after 4 hours of IC405/IC410 which I cant seem to do anything with because my flats are messed up)

OTA: NS8GPS @ f/7-ish

Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD

RGB Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 20 x 900s, IDAS Filter

Stacked: DeepSkyStacker

Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools

(Click on image for larger version)

I`d forgotten quite how slow f/7+ was to image with... think I`ll stick to the Hyperstar for the moment, although I do hear M51 calling my name as a "this years version versus last years".

[centroid]

That's nice Steve, and welcome back to the world of higher f number imaging

Dave

[MartinB]

Nice work Steve and good to see you tackling the small stuff!

[RobH]

Good work Steve....lots of nice detail in the arms coming through

Cheers

Rob

[MikeD]

Nice colour and detail steve.

Mike.

[SteveL]

Issues were:

- I need to guide with the barlow in the W066, its just not long enough to spot the smaller movements that the C8 sees

- A need to work on my V-Curves in FocusMax

- I need to collimate the C8 @ f/10, all the in/out/in/out with the Hyperstar cant be helping much

- Need to batch PEC train the mount

- I need to add more weight to the tripod to steady it

[barkis]

That's a Bl**** good image in spite of all those issues Steve.

Are you having a competition between M51's, last year against this year. You didn't have the QHY8 last year did you?

Ron.

[SteveL]

Yes, I`ll be comparing M51s... last year I only had my 350D

June 2007 (accidently taken as jpgs)

Another June 2007 (accidently take as jpgs... again... but small size jpgs!)

I did snag a quick look at M51 with the QHY8 in December 2007, but I didnt nail the focus and it didnt have many subs

[barkis]

Somehow I get the notion that you are not sorry you bought the QHY8.

It has churned out some awesome images since the early days.

Ron.

[Ford Prefect]

Great M101 Steve, looks like I'm going to need a lot more practice to get as good as you Jon