NGC 2403

[Davide Simonetti]

So after a very cloudy start to last night the sky finally cleared enough to look for galaxies to image. NGC 2403 is a new target for me and with a magnitude of 8.9 I was hoping to resolve more of it than I actually did - this galaxy appears much larger than this image shows. Still enough of it came out to be able to see some spiral arms. This might be a target worth returning to from a a place with darker skies than London.

 

12 x 8 minute exposures at 400 ISO
11 x dark frames
10 x flat frames
21 x bias/offset frames (subtracted from flat frames only)

Captured with APT
Guided with PHD
Processed in Nebulosity and Photoshop

Equipment:
Celestron NexStar 127 SLT
GoTo AltAz mount with homemade wedge
Orion 50mm Mini Guide Scope
ZWO ASI120 MC imaging and guiding camera
Canon 700D DSLR

[Jannis]

That's a really nice capture, and considering using an F/12 scope and a none-EQ mount?! I didn't even know you could do 8 min exposures at 1500mm with an alt-az mount!

I see you also (now at least) have an EQ mount and brighter optics, did you ever come back to this target?

 

[Davide Simonetti]

On 1/7/2018 at 00:06, Jannis said:

That's a really nice capture, and considering using an F/12 scope and a none-EQ mount?! I didn't even know you could do 8 min exposures at 1500mm with an alt-az mount!

I see you also (now at least) have an EQ mount and brighter optics, did you ever come back to this target?

 

Hi, thanks for the nice compliment. I have not yet returned to this target but I will eventually. I now have a ZWO ASI 1600 MC camera which when used with the 150mm Newt and the EQ5 should make a huge difference. So I am revisiting many old targets...starting with bright, well-known targets as I learn more about the camera 

[wimvb]

For a moment I thought that galaxy season had already started. But then I saw the date on the original image. (and a very nice image it is)

I don't think it will be a match for your ASI1600.

I hope you'll have clear skies during galaxy season, so we can enjoy a revisit.