Sombrero Galaxy M104 - Mar/Apr2018

[MarsG76]

Hello All,

 This is one of the objects which data I’m going through which I captured during the last couple of months.

This is an image of M104 which I captured across a few nights starting end of March and a couple of nights in April.

This was imaged at 2032mm, the 8” SCT native focal length, 300s, 600s and 900s ISO800 subs.

This didn’t come out as well as I hoped it would, no details in the edge shadow, but during those nights I was fighting slight haze… this is an object which I’ll have to image again in the future.

3 objects left to process.

 

Clear skies,

MG

 

[orion25]

Beautiful image despite the haze! I can tell lots of work went into this. I can only imagine how amazing it would come out without the haze, lol!

Olé!

Reggie

[MarsG76]

11 minutes ago, orion25 said:

Beautiful image despite the haze! I can tell lots of work went into this. I can only imagine how amazing it would come out without the haze, lol!

Olé!

Reggie

Without the haze it would only be the dark lane.... ha

Not that much work went into this one.. wasn't really that much data to play with, so 99% stretch, denoise and color balance.

 

[orion25]

52 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

Without the haze it would only be the dark lane.... ha

Not that much work went into this one.. wasn't really that much data to play with, so 99% stretch, denoise and color balance.

 

Still impressive, though!

[tooth_dr]

Yes this is my favourite galaxy! Nicely done MG. 

[8472]

Though I've personally barely observed it and never imaged it, this is one of my favourite DSOs, too.

Well done.

[Rodd]

Hands down my favorite too.  You did well imaging at 2032mm!  If you add data to this image from clear nights it will sharpen up.  No need to start from scratch!  This is a great base on which to build.

Rodd

[MarsG76]

8 hours ago, Rodd said:

Hands down my favorite too.  You did well imaging at 2032mm!  If you add data to this image from clear nights it will sharpen up.  No need to start from scratch!  This is a great base on which to build.

Rodd

I compared it to the image of M104 I did back in 2015, attached, 2015 on the left and this year on the right, I think that there is a slight improvement....As far as adding data to it, I wont be adding to this one, it's done, although next year I'll image it again from scratch after I active cool my 40D. The bits and pieces I need to cool the DSLR have started to arrive, so as soon as I have everything, I'll start work on the cooling mod project.

If the project is a success, I wonder how much, if any, difference will be in my astro images? How much difference in the captured subs, detail and sensitivity.

  

[Rodd]

12 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

How much difference in the captured subs, detail and sensitivity.

Hard to say.  I know when I forget to activate cooling (or the settings mysteriously change and cooling goes off), I see a HUGE difference in my subs wit the STT-8300.  I was imaging with the STT-8300 at -40 and I forgot to turn cooling on and the subs were unusable.  With the ASI 1600, on the other hand, it was a bit different.  I was imaging at -20 and forgot to turn the cooling on and I didn't really see much of a difference.  The ASI 1600 is allot cleaner though, maybe that is significant.

Rodd

[MarsG76]

8 minutes ago, Rodd said:

Hard to say.  I know when I forget to activate cooling (or the settings mysteriously change and cooling goes off), I see a HUGE difference in my subs wit the STT-8300.  I was imaging with the STT-8300 at -40 and I forgot to turn cooling on and the subs were unusable.  With the ASI 1600, on the other hand, it was a bit different.  I was imaging at -20 and forgot to turn the cooling on and I didn't really see much of a difference.  The ASI 1600 is allot cleaner though, maybe that is significant.

Rodd

Thats why I'm wondering whether the cooling mod will make as much of a difference as full spectrum modding did... the STT-8300 has a CCD where as the ASI1600 is CMOS, the 40D is CMOS also... CMOS is apparently less susceptible to noise than a CCD, all things being equal... but surely cooling will make it more sensitive.

I already do 30 minute and long NB subs with the uncooled 40D and, although there is noise, its not as much as one would expect for such long subs and uncooled... time will tell exactly how much difference there will be.

[Rodd]

20 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

time will tell exactly how much difference there will be

It will probably be noticeable in the Summer, when its very warm

Rodd

[MarsG76]

3 minutes ago, Rodd said:

It will probably be noticeable in the Summer, when its very warm

Rodd

Can't wait to test it...