M51 Whirlpool galaxy

[knobby]

First attempt at any DSO other than the brighter stuff like M42 or Andromeda.

Learning to use the AZ-Gti /Sharpcap polar align / windows synscan app / APT platesolving ... And guiding ! all in one night ?

all went well so had a quick 30 mins on M51 (first time I'd ever managed to actually frame it ... Plate solving is amazing)

90 second subs gain 420 and 5 darks and synthetic flat for dust bunnies / gradients

Wish I'd have gone longer now as tried a 5 minute sub once guiding was working which looked good .

Very noisy but only 30 mins .

[Bobby1970]

Nice image. What camera/scope are you using?

[knobby]

Thanks Bobby, it's a SW ED72 and Altair 183C non Tec also a William optics 0.8 reducer.

[George Gearless]

Nice catch.

I know the feeling of kicking yourself when you realize you could've done so much better, but it's too late to start a new series of photos. Well, now you know  .

[knobby]

Getting it all working together was the aim so the M51 was a bonus ?

[bottletopburly]

Nice target ? currently on sub 36 x300s of m51 ?

[knobby]

No pressure then but yours must be better than mine ! ?

[bottletopburly]

2 hours ago, knobby said:

No pressure then but yours must be better than mine ! ?

Fingers crossed then??

[Prolifics]

On 29/03/2019 at 10:56, knobby said:

First attempt at any DSO other than the brighter stuff like M42 or Andromeda.

Learning to use the AZ-Gti /Sharpcap polar align / windows synscan app / APT platesolving ... And guiding ! all in one night ?

all went well so had a quick 30 mins on M51 (first time I'd ever managed to actually frame it ... Plate solving is amazing)

90 second subs gain 420 and 5 darks and synthetic flat for dust bunnies / gradients

Wish I'd have gone longer now as tried a 5 minute sub once guiding was working which looked good .

Very noisy but only 30 mins .

Nice first try! Did you use dark, Bias and flat frames?

[knobby]

Just 5 darks as the temperature was changing so didn't bother any further.