M82

[steviemac500]

Very modest effort from last night. I remembered to use the focussing mask but I'm not sure I was perfect - I was expecting more spiked stars? Guiding seems to have worked perfectly though which is good news. 20 subs at 5mins, 10 darks, 25 bias but still no flats.

[frostynixon]

How did you post process your image? On my screen everything looks fairly dark. Usually the spike only show well on the brighter stars. From the details in the galaxy i would say the image is properly focussed.

[ollypenrice]

That looks great with plenty of galaxy detail revealed. What I'm sure you could do to good effect would be 'stretch' the image a little harder and, maybe, slightly adjust the colour balance which is just a little heavy on the blue. Here's an introduction to the process. http://www.middlehillobservatory.co.uk/articles-primers/Levels%20and%20curves.htm

Olly

[steviemac500]

Thanks Olly. I was pleased with the detail on the galaxy, especially when you zoom in. I was struggling a little as the histogram in the curves was so small that it was really difficult to stretch. The tutorial is helpful as well by the way!

[Stargazer33]

Very nice! Well done.