M33 from Tuesday Night (yes, actually managed an image!)

[Tim]

This is only about 8 subs, stupid windows update shut the laptop down halfway thru the session. In a way I was glad, because when I went out to see why it had stopped, I felt a spot of rain, within about 3 mins it was tipping it down.

So this is the second image of the night, haven't finished the first yet, M33 The Triangulum Galaxy. If I get the time and skies I'd like to spend a whole night or two on this one, there's such a lot of colour in it! Does anybody know if the red spots are star forming regions, is the red light Ha, and if so, why doesn't M31 show areas like those? I think M51 has the red spots too?

Here's the much reduced version.

Cheers

TJ

[thing]

Very nice TJ. Some lovely colours there. Red stuff is usually a star forming region.

[RichieJarvis]

Thats beautiful TJ - good colour, and amazed you managed to get it.... what with that weather!

What was the sub exposure length?

Good job mate

[centroid]

That's a 'stunner' TJ, nice work indeed!!

Dave

[Tim]

Exposure details;

8 x 360 secs @ iso 1600 - C9.25 @ F6.3 - Canon 350D (Modified)

Guiding WO 72 Megrez + DSI Pro

Plus flats & darks & bias frames.

I dont usually with iso 1600 because of the noise, but the sky was dark and the time before clouds was limited, and iso 800 just didnt get anything on the arms.

Cheers

[centroid]

ISO 1600 or not, the SNR is really good in that image.

Dave

[Reggie]

Thats a very nice image TJ, I bet your pleased you stayed out, I tried M33 a few weeks back and didn't even get close to that, very well done

[MikeD]

Very nice detail, great shot.

Mike.

[steppenwolf]

Very nice indeed TJ - some lovely colour and detail.

[ncjunk]

Nice shot, like the colour as well.

Neil c

[ngc2403]

lovely image TJ,

as was said the red spots are star forming regions and m33 has a lot of them. compared to m31 which has very few. the reasons for it am not sure but it seems to be a random thing .

very nice image well do again

[MartinB]

Great shot TJ. The Ha regions have come through really well

[barkis]

Yep!, a cracker indeed. You must have done a deal TJ. Where did you get the skies from to do that? :laughing2:

Ron.

[SteelRat]

That is a nice one Tim.

[Beyond_Vision]

Cracking capture Tim, as everyone has said you have picked up the Ha regions very well.

Regards

Kevin

[Psychobilly]

Nice on TJ

Billy...

[RichieJarvis]

I am amazed thats ISO 1600 TJ - even more impressed! Thats a cracking image...

Now, let us see if the clouds will part tonight or over the weekend - M33 is perfectly placed at the moment, and my SXV-H9 is getting lonely

Your gonna have to write up your processing steps at some point, along with the dark and flat/bias routine you use... Actually - come to mention it - I didn't think you had to use flat AND bias, but one or tother? Or am I misremembering something?

Richie

[Tim]

The BIAS frames I use are 1/4000th with a lens cap on, at the same iso as your image. As I understand it, anything which shows up on such a short exposure is rubbish for deleting.

You probably would get nothing at all tbh, and wouldn't notice the difference anyways, but as it only takes 1/2000th of a second to take the two frames, I can live with that

The flats are what REALLY matter I am finding out. They get rid of the vignetting to a large degree, and really help to enhance the contrast. They also help alleviate dodgy gradients etc. For this pic I tried a new technique of putting my battery packs fluorescent light behind an artists canvas, which gave a nice even illumination, and grabbing some frames of that. I did them at the same ISO as the main image, but using the cameras AV mode to automatically calculate the exposure. Read that technique somewhere, it seems to work.

For some reason the dark frames havent been playing nicely, either on this image, or the main one from tuesday night (M31 core) which I may post later, but I THINK that may be due to the stacking method (mosaic) that I used. I'll see what happens on the next run.

PS, my Mrs, as ever, prefers JCM's M33.

Cheers

TJ

[jcm]

Very nice image , TJ.

No doubt if I showed my wife both images , she would prefer yours

John

PS nearly used my C9.25 but the 130mm was setup and ready to go.

[Sam]

Very nice M33 TJ!

[RichieJarvis]

Good tips on the flourescent TJ - thanks...

So you've set that up in your obs then for flats?

I must admit, I had terrible probs with my 350D, a 6.3 FR and my LX200R - thats one of the reasons I switch to the SXV-H9 - I got fed up with having to compensate for the vignetting...

Of course, as always with this hobby, i've just discovered that what I thought was a nicely collimated newt is not I am getting heart-shaped stars :crybaby: :crybaby: :crybaby:

[Tim]

I dont have an obs Richie. I simply slew the ota around to horizontal, balance the light on top of the jacuzzi, with the frame in front, and take the shots. I dunno if thats the right way or what, but it seems to work.

The real test will be with the F10 shots...... I still struggle with those.

TJ

[saturn5]

A real beauty TJ :thumbleft: