Southern Pinwheel Galaxy ( Messier 83, NGC 5236 ) in Hydra ( new subs added )

[MikeODay]

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy ( Messier 83, NGC 5236 ) in the constellation Hydra.

Additional sub-images added ( 9 x 3 min @ ISO 200, no filter ) and colour balance tweaked to remove slight yellow/green tinge.  The lower ISO and removal of the LP pollution filter has made it easier to bring out the subtle colours in the stars.

 

 

( click on image to see fuill size )

 

Messier 83 is a relatively large and bright spiral galaxy visible from southern and mid latitudes. Clearly visible is the central bar with its bright central bulge as well as multiple dark dust lanes and areas of nebulosity in the sweeping arms. At a distance of 15 Million light years, the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, whilst close in astronomical terms, is too far away and hence way too small for my backyard telescope to resolve individual stars; so all of the stars that can be seen are in fact in the near foreground of the image and reside, like us, in the Milkyway Galaxy.

Much harder to see are the many far more distant galaxies that look like tiny fuzzy stars in the image. The easiest of which are PGC 724536 and PGC 48132 that appear close together in the centre of the image just to the right of Messier 83. Both are edge on and look like tiny flying saucers.

Details:

Skywatcher Quattro 10" f4 Newtonian.
Skywatcher AZ Eq6 GT Mount
Orion 80mm f5 guide scope and auto guider - PHD2 software.
Nikon D5300 (unmodified)
14bit NEF, Long Exp. NR on.

25 June 2016 - Hutech IDAS D1 filter, 17 x 4 min @ ISO 400
28 June 2016 - no filter, 9 x 3 min @ ISO 200

Pixinsight and photoshop.

Links:

https://500px.com/mikeoday
http://photo.net/photos/MikeODay

Edited June 27 by mike005

 

[MikeODay]

Original is here:

 

[laudropb]

Very nice image.

[Astroboy239]

Great image. I'm still a dslr fan. That galaxy is one of my favorites 

[MikeODay]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[ultranova]

lovely work with the DSLR , background and colours are great

my only small criticism is the galaxy looks slightly to bright

which is masking some of the finer detail, otherwise

a perfect shot

well done

Paul

 

[MikeODay]

13 hours ago, ultranova said:

lovely work with the DSLR , background and colours are great

my only small criticism is the galaxy looks slightly to bright

which is masking some of the finer detail, otherwise

a perfect shot

well done

Paul

 

Thanks Paul, I will have another go at stretching the galaxy to see if I can get a little more contrast into the fine detail.

Cheers

Mike

[PatrickGilliland]

Super work - agree with Paul that a little local enhancement on the to make a little dimmer and release some more detail may be beneficial.  But lovely image all round.

Paddy

[MikeODay]

17 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Super work - agree with Paul that a little local enhancement on the to make a little dimmer and release some more detail may be beneficial.  But lovely image all round.

Paddy

Thanks Paddy, much appreciated

[MikeODay]

Tweaked to keep a little more detail in the galaxy ...

(click on image to see larger)

[MikeODay]

This is an updtate version with colour balance tweaked to remove slight yellow/green cast in background...