M104 Sombrero Galaxy (01/05/2021)

[rob_r]

Hi, perhaps the last DSO imaging session for me until the late Summer. I had M104 or M3 in mind, M3 would have been the better choice on altitude alone and equipment but I didn't want to pass this target up if I managed to locate it within frame.
However, I did catch M104 in frame despite being unable to see it through the EP, it was a bit of click and hope at the highest ISO setting then a little re-centering. By far, the most distant object I captured so far.

The below consists of 147x light frames at 18s exposure (~44 minutes) at ISO800, along with 40x flats, 40x darks and 40x bias. All taken with an unmodified Canon 600D and Mak 127. I stacked it using Siril on a Mac with further levels, curves and saturation adjustments in Photoshop. Perhaps underexposed as it needed quite a bit of stretching so the stars have blown out. Cropped then reduced the final image by 50%. A noisy final result and star trailing is evident but at least I managed to catch a galaxy this Spring. Reasonably happy with it considering the target. I'll stick to the Moon in the interim until Jupiter and Saturn swing into the evening skies.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Gerr]

That's a good capture for such short individual exposure times. I'm surprised at the level of detail you've managed to get. This one is on my to do list but opportunity is fast fading!!

Thumbs up from me

Fellow Canon DSLR user (650D).

Gerr.

[tooth_dr]

Very nice job indeed, and I think you should stick at the deep sky stuff, because evidently you arent half bad at it  

[rob_r]

8 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Very nice job indeed, and I think you should stick at the deep sky stuff, because evidently you arent half bad at it  

Thanks. Once the longer nights return, I'll switch back to DSOs. Under Bortle 6 skies, I feel true darkness has already gone even on the rare opportunities I get to stay up past midnight. M51 is another target but it is already disappearing over the top of my house!

 

10 hours ago, Gerr said:

That's a good capture for such short individual exposure times. I'm surprised at the level of detail you've managed to get. This one is on my to do list but opportunity is fast fading!!

Me too. Even at 18s, trailing is evident but some detail is there. With hindsight, I should have upped the ISO to 1600 perhaps. I had problems in DSS attempting to stack it due to lack of stars even at 2% threshold plus median filtering. Siril just battered through the frames and stacked them. M104 will fit in frame on my ASI224MC with the Mak 127 but I'm guessing it would have been hugely challenging to get that on the smaller sensor and keep it there!