My First Galaxy - M51 and it's little friend

[Sam]

I am so happy with this shot - the first time I've ever managed to get a galaxy on the screen. I'm going to reprocess tomorrow so hopefully this one will get a little better. I took 47 X 45sec exposures. DSS kept 41 of them - so they couldn't have been too bad. The camera was the Canon 400D through my 8" Newt on an HEQ5 - no guiding just tracking with probably the best alignment I've done. Here it is:

(click to enlarge)

cheers

Sam

[jgs001]

Nice capture Sam.

[MikeD]

Great result, nice dust lane detail.

Mike.

[Sam]

Here's the widefield shot:

(click to enlarge)

cheers

Sam

[Kai]

Now thats nice Sam

[steppenwolf]

Excellent, Sam - and this is not an easy target at all! I like the wide field version too - great to see it in its natural habitat!

[blinky]

That widefield shot is cracking!

[dogfish]

I agree with Craig, that widefield shot is stunning!

Cheers, Martin

[Parallax]

Excellent, Sam. For your first galaxy, and a difficult one at that, that is a brilliant capture.

Well done.

Steve

[Beyond_Vision]

Nicely done for a first galaxy. Here's to many more.

Regards

Kevin

[algol]

both nice mate but the widefield absoloutley owns.

great shot.

[Sam]

There's a few other galaxies in the shot as well!

(click to enlarge)

Sam

[LostNSpace]

Great captures Sam.....Especially the widefield.......

Mark

[Cloudwatcher]

Great stuff! Love the widefield.

Cheers

CW

[MartinB]

So is the close up the same image just cropped? Excellent 1st galaxy

[Sam]

Martin,

Yes the first image is from the main one just cropped after the first go at processing. I reprocessed the whole image this morning again and found the widefield looked pretty good so posted that as well.

cheers

Sam

[bazza]

Sam,

Excellent widefield to get 3 galaxies!

Tracking appears excellent....must've been a very good alignment.

Barry.

[centroid]

Hey, nice going Sam, encouragement for you indeed.

Well done!!

Dave

[Sam]

Thank you all so much for you really positive comments! It was certainly a joy to see those spiral arms come life with each little move of the levels.

Sam

[beamish]

Stunning widefield shot Sam just gorgeous.

[RobH]

Nice work Sam, not an easy taget with a moon around...lovely widefield :hello1:

Cheers

Rob

[legion48]

Great capture CW.

[Cloudwatcher]

Great capture CW.

I should be so luck! I just wish it was mine,Tony!

Cheers

CW

[RobH]

Nice capture Sam, especially for the conditions :hello1:

Cheers

Rob

[SteelRat]

Real nice work Sam 8) Love the WF version.

Cheers

Matthew(SR)