M51 A little CMOS Experiment

[tomato]

I am really keen to try some close up galaxy imaging, but the funds don’t run to an Atik 460 just yet, so I coupled Tomatobro’s FLO clearance sale ZWO ASI 120 mm onto the Esprit 150.

I couldn’t run the camera in mono16 mode with Sharpcap, despite using a variety of laptop combinations, so this image is in mono8 mode, 197 x 30 secs, calibrated with darks only.

APP would not analyse the stars so calibrated and stacked in DSS, processed in Startools and PS. There are some funny gradients in the result, but I have to say I was quite impressed with the outcome, given my near zero knowledge of how to image with CMOS cameras, and the lack of proper calibration frames. If you have a tight budget for imaging kit, these little cameras do seem very versatile.

Thanks for looking

[geordie85]

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Tomatobro’s FLO clearance sale ZWO ASI 120 mm onto the Esprit 150.

If you have a tight budget for imaging kit, these little cameras do seem very versatile.

Thanks for looking

Very nice and I'd call your first try a success.