M81 Bode's Galaxy

[Jannis]

Last attempt i had at this target was around 6 years ago, so i thought it was time for a new try.

So far i only managed to capture 42x 120sec at iso800, which is only 1/3 of my previous amount of data, but it's already looking better then anything i had before.
I'm hoping to be able to capture quite some hours of L at a later point and use this for color, but for now I'm quite please with it.

Captured with the Canon 550D and the Explorer 200. Dark, flat and bias added.

[MartinB]

It's looking very good.  The scope looks like it's nicely tuned and it looks like you've made the most of the available data.  Just needs more time to smooth out the noise but you're on track for a belter of an M81

[Mr Bergman]

I like it a lot. I would like to give it a go on this galaxy with my modded dslr as well! 

[wimvb]

Great result already. You managed to capture both dark dust towards the core and Holmberg IX just off to the right. I like it.

[Peco4321]

That's a beauty. Plus bonus fuzzy bottom left, anyone know which it is?  

[wimvb]

Just now, Peco4321 said:

That's a beauty. Plus bonus fuzzy bottom left, anyone know which it is?  

That's a very common question on this forum with m81. I know it has been answered several times before, but of course I have forgotten the answer. 

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice start, clean (I like the background), detail and well processed.  More data will assist with noise reduction and some more colour I expect.

Paddy

[derrickf]

I like the choices you have made in working on this data - it's good to see an image that is processed just far enough to exploit the available data; as others have said you can process more aggressively to minimise noise when you have more data.

Derrick

[Xplode]

Very noise processing, you stretched in exactly enough not to stretch out too a lot of noise, good choice.

If you want to work on integrating this with other data let me know and i'll share some L and Ha with you.

[Jannis]

18 hours ago, MartinB said:

It's looking very good.  The scope looks like it's nicely tuned and it looks like you've made the most of the available data.  Just needs more time to smooth out the noise but you're on track for a belter of an M81

Thank you! I actually did capture lots more data, but for some reason the camera got stuck at ISO12800 instead of the set ISO800. I wasn't able to combine the different ISO exposures into something nice, so i decided to let it go to waste and get more data later instead. Lesson learned, check first exposure after clicking "start" before going inside for hours...

18 hours ago, Mr Bergman said:

I like it a lot. I would like to give it a go on this galaxy with my modded dslr as well! 

Thank you. You should indeed give it a try. It's a nice, big, and bright target. A modded camera might help a bit as there are some Ha areas in the galaxy, but i don't know how bright they are. 

18 hours ago, wimvb said:

Great result already. You managed to capture both dark dust towards the core and Holmberg IX just off to the right. I like it.

I actually wasn't sure if it really was something there or just a reflection, but then i saw it in other M81 images too. Thanks for letting us know what it's called.

17 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

That's a beauty. Plus bonus fuzzy bottom left, anyone know which it is?  

Thank you. Like Wim say, it's a common question around M81, i think i even asked it myself at some point, but i honestly can't remember what it is called either.

16 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Nice start, clean (I like the background), detail and well processed.  More data will assist with noise reduction and some more colour I expect.

Paddy

thank you. I realise now that the color is a bit on the weak side, so i'll be capturing more of it later before i go for the mono L data with light pollution filter. 

5 hours ago, derrickf said:

I like the choices you have made in working on this data - it's good to see an image that is processed just far enough to exploit the available data; as others have said you can process more aggressively to minimise noise when you have more data.

Derrick

Thanks. I did my best not to overprocess it as i know i had very limited data to begin with. I was supposed to have several more hours of data, but the camera got stuck at ISO12800 as i clicked on "start" and went inside... 

4 hours ago, Xplode said:

Very noise processing, you stretched in exactly enough not to stretch out too a lot of noise, good choice.

If you want to work on integrating this with other data let me know and i'll share some L and Ha with you.

Thanks. I did actually do some sort of noise reduction, but very very gently, trying to not remove any photons from the image that shouldn't be removed. Hopefully i'll get many more hours of data next time to get more details and color out of it.
Not sure how accurate my colors are though? The core turned out rather odd (green/magenta), so i did several rounds of color adjustments. 

Thanks for the offer on data to practice. I'll attempt to collect them myself first, but i might ask you for them should i have any issues.