M51

[Martin Meredith]

Skywatcher Quattro 8" f4 mounted in alt-az on AzEQ6 + Lodestar x2 mono camera. Due to field rotation I was forced into short exposures on this one (24x10s). This is unprocessed (captured at the scope using StarlightLive). There is some noise in there (probably read noise) but I left it in to show what is possible without processing if you don't mind that kind of thing!

Martin

[Jannis]

That's a stunning image from just 4 minutes exposure!

Personally i don't mind the background noise at all. I prefer this type any day in front of one where they have tried to cover up the noise too much and lost loads of faint details on the way.

[Martin Meredith]

Thanks Jannis. I typically don't post-process, but on this occasion I did look at the effect of noise reduction in Nebulosity, but I didn't like the result...

[Tangoringo]

Hi Martin,

Similarly love seeing these 'au naturel' lodestar/ultra star images. Have to confess to being very tempted with one of these myself.

Lovely stuff.??

Ian