M106 ASI224

[cuivenion]

This was taken over two nights in January from my backyard in Morecambe. I was uncertain as to wether to use all the data as one night the seeing was fantastic, the other not so good, plus I didn't dither on the bad seeing night. I might have another go with just the data from the better night.

Scope: Skywatcher 130PDS

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI224

Guiding: Finderguider with GPCAM AR0130C

Software: Sharpcap 3.2, PHD2, Deepskystacker 4.2, Pixinsight

6 Hours 30 minutes of 30 and 49.2 second exposures

100 Darks, 200 Flats + Dark Flats per night

Any comments and constructive criticism welcome as usual.

[tomato]

A great result! I’m currently trying to image a wider FOV of this galaxy encompassing  NGC 4217. So far I have around 3 hours of subs, but I definitely need more data to  get closer to the level of detail in your image and a similar smooth background.  I am going to struggle now with the moon getting big and high in the sky.

I’d be very interested to see how a process of your data from the better night comes out.

[cuivenion]

Just now, tomato said:

A great result! I’m currently trying to image a wider FOV of this galaxy encompassing  NGC 4217. So far I have around 3 hours of subs, but I definitely need more data to  get closer to the level of detail in your image and a similar smooth background.  I am going to struggle now with the moon getting big and high in the sky.

I’d be very interested to see how a process of your data from the better night comes out.

Thanks, it's a more difficult target than I gave it credit for. The outer arms are very faint compared to the center, good luck with your version. What camera/scope are you using?

[tomato]

Yes, I totally agree with your observation about the faintness of the outer arms, I have to stretch the data hard to bring them out.

I have a Moravian G2-8300 on an Esprit 150, could get a clear spell here on Thursday, however the moon will be at 72% and 42 degrees elevation, but I’ll try and get some more subs.

[cuivenion]

Nice kit, looking forward to seeing the results.

[wimvb]

Lovely image. Did you use deconvolution? This may reveal more structure and contrast in the core.

[cuivenion]

Thanks wimvb. I did use deconvolution but I'm still getting my head round it. I made a PSF and applied it at the linear stage and that's the result. I may be better off using slight sharpening instead. There's not that many stars in the fov so maybe the PSF model isn't great.

[wimvb]

I think there are enough stars. If you aim at selecting stars that have a moffat profile and an amplitude between 0.1 and 1, you should be ok. In deconvolution, it's important to keep the dark deringing parameter as low as possible, otherwise there won't be much sharpening. The default value of 0.1 is usually waaaay too high.

[cuivenion]

Cheers I'll give it a try.