NGC253 - The Sculptor Galaxy

[hjw]

Hi all,

It seems our wet winter is over and I had the second decent night in a week. The target was the Sculptor Galaxy - a galaxy in the constellation of Sculptor which is approx. 11.4 million light years away. The image was taken by 60x180sec ISO800 and without the UHC filter.

It's the second time I had a go at this object and I am quite happy with the result.

Clear skies

HJ

[Rodd]

What scope did you use?   Looks like a long FL--nice color.

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice work - picking out those dust channels nicely.  Paddy

[hjw]

11 hours ago, Rodd said:

What scope did you use?   Looks like a long FL--nice color.

Hi Rodd, NGC253 is a fairly large and bright object (27.5' x 6.8', magnitude 7.1 and surface brightness 14). So, it is a good object for the SW 80ED with guiding.

Cheers

HJ

[ollypenrice]

Super. I might just ease the green down a tad, maybe?

Olly

[swag72]

Looking good  I do agree on the green though - I saw a green tinge when I first looked at this

[hjw]

8 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Super. I might just ease the green down a tad, maybe?

Olly

Thanks Olly - to get a "super" from you is flattering ! I turned the green down a bit. I think I have to get my screen calibrated. When I got to work the image looked quite different. I also rotated the image 180°. It sounds silly, but now the major dust lane is at the bottom and it looks like you are looking down onto the galaxy. I know orientation is totally irrelevant but I like it better...

Clear skies!

HJ

 

 

 

[StargeezerTim]

I like that. I'm coming to Oz for nearly three months in January (my daughter lives in Melbourne), but won't/cant bring my stuff with me, which is a shame as it would be nice to image some of your southern skies.

The only suggestion I would make is that, for my taste, the space is a bit blue. You could try toning down the space whilst leaving the galaxy as is, but it is a lovely image whatever...

Tim. 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

7 hours ago, hjw said:

I turned the green down a bit. I think I have to get my screen calibrated. When I got to work the image looked quite different. I also rotated the image 180°. It sounds silly, but now the major dust lane is at the bottom and it looks like you are looking down onto the galaxy. I know orientation is totally irrelevant but I like it better...

Nice detail in the dust lanes. Good to see these gems of the southern skies, only M31, M33 and M101 have a larger apparent size I think (ignoring satellite dwarf galaxies pf the Milky Way). I think the second version is better but I'm seeing a little blue-green in the background - it could perhaps be a bit darker?

I know what you mean about the orientation, I always prefer to see spirals the 'right' way up. I blame my gravity-addled brain.