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My Attempt At The Leo Triplet And The Tidal Tail

StuartJPP

By StuartJPP
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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Seeing as though everyone else is doing it...so will I.

I managed to get some imaging done on the night of the 17th/18th April. I was hoping for a repeat of the clear skies the following night, but as this is the UK it was totally cloudy. Another problem was that it wasn't positioned very well in the sky and as such it was facing into LP. After stacking I could see a hint of the tidal tail, but I just can't do much with it, it is too faint. If you squint you can see something there. I might try to process this one again but I just don't think there is enough data and most probably won't get another chance this season. Oh well...

Baader Modified Canon 6D
Canon 500mm f/4 L IS Lens @ f/4

Not the Astrotrac :lipsrsealed:

19 x 300 second lights @ ISO800
20x flats
20x darks
20x bias

Night of the 17th/18th April 2015.

Thanks for looking, comments/criticism welcome. You can see a slightly larger version by clicking on the image.

17072914639_e5b1a44a86_b.jpg

Leo Triplet and friends by StuartJPP, on Flickr

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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Many thanks for the comments everyone! The processing of this one was by far the hardest I have done, trying to get that tail revealed, unsuccessfully mind you  :grin: . Should spend some time re-doing other images after this...might reveal a bit more detail.

Hi Stuart, another cracking image. I prefer this in subtlety to others. I wish I could control my stars like that. Any tips from your side on how to achieve that. Do you use PS?

I do use an older version of PS, controlling stars is a tricky affair, best is to get them as small and round as possible to begin with. 

That is a lovely image! You mention light pollution - do you use an LP filter?

I used a LP filter for this particular image, but if I can get away without using one I would. This was facing towards a street light (in the distance) so I had to use it.

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lensman57

lensman57

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The tidal tail is just visible on my el cheapo laptop screen, quite faint but it is there in all its glory. A brilliant image for sure. I too have problem with any target due south as the LP level in the direction of the airport is just getting worse and worse.

Regards,

A.G

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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Great image Stuart and nice to see the surrounding area as well!

That's because the focal length of my setup is a bit short :)

The tidal tail is just visible on my el cheapo laptop screen, quite faint but it is there in all its glory. A brilliant image for sure. I too have problem with any target due south as the LP level in the direction of the airport is just getting worse and worse.

Regards,

A.G

Each individual sub had the slightest hint of something there and after stacking there is definitely something there, but it is very close to the background noise...might have another go at some point using some DSLR-LLRGB trickery :)

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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great wide shot. Good detail

Thanks Paul!

It's there! Most exciting. And you have a bonus galaxy as well, NGC3593. This is a great success.

Olly

Cheers Olly, I might not have noticed the tail if you hadn't encouraged gnomus to do a heavy stretch on his image and then posting yours clearly showing it.

I may have dismissed any "tail" as noise and tried to calibrate it out...

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