NGC3184...initial steps

[Rodd]

Just starting out on this journey...NGC 3184.  Believe it or not, but this galaxy is over a full magnitude dimmer than IC-342, which came as a real surprise to me.  Conditions have been quite bad--despite having been forecasted to be pristine (never understood why a live forecast would read "clear" when the sky is like pea soup).  Despite the conditions I was pleasantly surprised by the data.   I have collected over 100 subs, but have thrown out more than half due to elevated FWHM values.  This is 45 300 sec Lum subs.  taken with TOA 130 and ASI 1600.  I know I need many more--and better conditions I think will tighten things up and bring down the FWHM.  Warning...This image has not been processed for full resolution viewing.  I know the bright stars are showing signs of the dreaded ASI 1600 diffraction pattern--but you should have seen them before I knocked them down a bit.  created this stack using two versions--one stretched for the galaxy and one stretched for the background and stars.  Not perfect, I know, but I think in the end, when I am fully committed to processing a full data set, the artifacts around the brighter stars won't ruin the image.  As always CC and/or suggestions welcomed!

Thanks,

Rodd

[Rodd]

Managed to collect 30 more subs of much better quality--seeing was better and the sky was dar.  It is a very rare thing for my lum subs to come off the camera with little to no gradient.  The FWHM of the stack dropped from 3.4 to 2.5.  Here's a bit of a crop to make viewing a little easier.  I deconvolved the stack inlinear state.

[Petergoodhew]

Looking pretty good to me Rodd

[Rodd]

55 minutes ago, Petergoodhew said:

Looking pretty good to me Rodd

Thanks Peter. Looking forward to this project.   But moon is soon to come.  Ha I guess

[alan potts]

That's amazing when it is obvious how small it is judged against the nearby star, think I need one of those telescopes you have, now how do I tell the wife.

Alan

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, alan potts said:

That's amazing when it is obvious how small it is judged against the nearby star, think I need one of those telescopes you have, now how do I tell the wife.

Alan

Thanks Alan.  You explain that she needs one, that it will make her happy.  🙂

[Laurin Dave]

Very nice Rodd....

2 hours ago, alan potts said:

That's amazing when it is obvious how small it is judged against the nearby star, think I need one of those telescopes you have, now how do I tell the wife.

Alan

Hide the knives before you tell her....  

[Rodd]

45 minutes ago, Laurin Dave said:

Very nice Rodd....

Hide the knives before you tell her....  

Thanks Laurin.....good advice!

Rodd