M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy 21.04.2018

[Vicky050373]

My first proper attempt at RGB imaging with the monochrome CCD.
Imaged using William Optics FLT-110 and Atik 314L monochrome CCD camera mounted on NEQ6 and guided with QHY5L-II monochrome in a QHY mini guidescope.

10 x 300 seconds R, 10 x 300 seconds G, 2 x 300 seconds B (as I had to delete the other 8 due to technical issues resulting in trailing). 10 x 300 seconds Luminance.

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. L, R, G & B stacked separately, using a reference frame for each stack (taken from the Luminence data set) to ensure alignment. Processed in Photoshop CS2, although I do not think I added the Luminence layer correctly resulting in loss of data. However, I learned a lot whilst processing this data and it is always there for me to revisit once I have improved my skills to hopefully get even more from the acquired data.

[2STAR]

Nice an Whispy Vicky, lovely image