Galaxies from last night

[gorann]

Last night was promised to be clear and it was for the most part, and since all snow here is gone it was also quite dark. My SQM showed 21.6 - the darkest I have had since I bought it soon a year ago. However, there were the odd clouds now and then that really conspired by turning up while I took a nap and messing up guiding and 2 h of data. So, I ended up with 2 h of M95/96 data. In the morning, just before dawn I collected 30 min of M106 data. Obviously the low amount of data have affected the quality but this may have been the last night of imaging for the season, so I post it anyhow. In two weeks it will be full moon and after that the nights become too light up here until September.

Both images taken with the ES 5" apo and Canon 60Da. 20 x 6 min on M95&M96 and 6 x 5 min on M106. ISO1600.

I have never pointed a scope on these things before so I am not sure how good or bad they are and any comments are appreciated. There is a small chance of clear skies tonight but.....

[Allinthehead]

Nicely done.

[Guest]

Very nice  Galaxies 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

M95/M96 make a great pairing. I was planning to shoot them with an ED120 but ran out of time, but I do have them along with M106 in a 200mm lens shot when I can get around to processing it.

[gorann]

1 hour ago, Allinthehead said:

Nicely done.

 

1 hour ago, artem said:

Very nice  Galaxies 

 

1 hour ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

M95/M96 make a great pairing. I was planning to shoot them with an ED120 but ran out of time, but I do have them along with M106 in a 200mm lens shot when I can get around to processing it.

Thank you all!

Knight of Clear Skies, you reminded me that I actually also took a wide field last night with my Samyang 135mmED f/2 (run fully open with a Canon 70D) sitting side by side while I was going for M95-96. The result could have been better - Due to shattered clouds I could only use 6 x 2 min exposures and I think I overexposed them as the sky came out very light in the images. 1 min or less would have been better (and given me more subs). In any case this is a fantastic lens virtually free from coma even at full opening.

So, here it is: 12 min of the sky around Leo (with me running the risk of becoming King of Posting Thin Data):

[gorann]

The sky has cleared, so I am shooting off at M 106 with two scopes (the ES 5" apo and the Samyang) so hopefully I get more than half an hour to work with!

[Rodd]

They are all wonderful--first time or no.  Clear, contrasty.  Even the widefield is clear and deep.  Well done.  You are in teh running for DSLR king!

Rodd

[gorann]

1 hour ago, Rodd said:

They are all wonderful--first time or no.  Clear, contrasty.  Even the widefield is clear and deep.  Well done.  You are in teh running for DSLR king!

Rodd

Thanks Rodd!

It became unexpectedly clear last nigh so I managed to catch nearly three more hours of M106, catching more coulours and a bit more detail. Will post it separately now.

[wimvb]

Nice images.

I took the opportunity to collect more data on NGC 2403, and like you I found that the sky is starting to become brighter. I'm quite impressed that you still manage to get 21.6. I hope that we will have an opprtunity later this week, and maybe a very short period after next full moon to collect some data. But after that it will be time to store the gear for the summer, and start browsing the astro suppliers' websites for new toys for next season.

Thanks for sharing

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice evenings work - well done

Paddy

[gorann]

21 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Nice evenings work - well done

Paddy

Thanks Paddy!

[ollypenrice]

Good!

I've imaged M95 and 96 with Yves and the 14 inch. You have a fine result but the first thing I thought was that you have the galaxies considerably more blue than we did. Then I looked at the stars and they are also high in the blue, I think. It might be wrth checking the colour balance. But they do indeed make a fine sight.

Olly

[gorann]

21 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Good!

I've imaged M95 and 96 with Yves and the 14 inch. You have a fine result but the first thing I thought was that you have the galaxies considerably more blue than we did. Then I looked at the stars and they are also high in the blue, I think. It might be wrth checking the colour balance. But they do indeed make a fine sight.

Olly

Thanks! and I can see what you mean Olly. I think I have a tendency to drift away with my colours, often going for what I find pretty at the moment rather than for what are the most true colours (what ever they are - I usually look at what others have done to get an idea). I may have a go at the colour balance of this one when I get back from traveling in a day or two.

[gorann]

On 2017-04-01 at 13:40, ollypenrice said:

Good!

I've imaged M95 and 96 with Yves and the 14 inch. You have a fine result but the first thing I thought was that you have the galaxies considerably more blue than we did. Then I looked at the stars and they are also high in the blue, I think. It might be wrth checking the colour balance. But they do indeed make a fine sight.

Olly

So here is a version where I used Hue/Saturation in PS to suppress the cyan a bit. I think it made the colours look more balanced, particularly on the stars.