M97 and M108 - -The Owl and the Surfboard

[Laurin Dave]

M97 the Owl planetary nebula and M108 the so called Surfboard galaxy.   Started at the start of lockdown 2020 when we had a  period of clear, moon free nights and concluded last week during another period of clear and mostly moon free nights.  7hrs Lum, 3 hrs each RGB and 10hrs Ha through Esprit150/SX46 and 16hrs of Oiii and 9hrs of Ha through the piggybacked Esprit100ASI1600 so 51 in total of which 35hrs of Ha and Oiii were for an object only 4 arcminutes across! Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop, much use of masks was made to enhance M97's outer shell which was also noise reduced using Topaz Denoise (Which whilst it does a marvellous job does feel a bit like cheating).  As well as the main objects the background is just full of distant galaxies and galaxy clusters.  I've also posted a crop of M97

Thanks for looking

Dave

 

 

[Shibby]

Wonderful image! The 2 stars of the show are handled fantastically, but I also love the detail on show for all those many, many, little background galaxies.

[Clarkey]

Great image. It is the first time I think I have seen the second 'ring' in blue so clearly defined. Benefits of 50+ hours of integration. Excellent.

[kirkster501]

Fab stuff Dave.  The Owl requires hours and hours of exposure to bring that outer shell out like you've done here.  Lots of tiny, remote galaxies in this field as well that I've spent time on before with the Dob in dark skies.

Edited March 30, 2022 by kirkster501

[Ags]

A great widefield!

[Laurin Dave]

20 hours ago, Shibby said:

Wonderful image! The 2 stars of the show are handled fantastically, but I also love the detail on show for all those many, many, little background galaxies.

Thank you..

13 hours ago, Clarkey said:

Great image. It is the first time I think I have seen the second 'ring' in blue so clearly defined. Benefits of 50+ hours of integration. Excellent.

And the wonders of Topaz Denoise     .... thanks 

12 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Fab stuff Dave.  The Owl requires hours and hours of exposure to bring that outer shell out like you've done here.  Lots of tiny, remote galaxies in this field as well that I've spent time on before with the Dob in dark skies.

Thanks Steve

9 hours ago, Ags said:

A great widefield!

Thank you

[mackiedlm]

Now thats a bit special! The outer shell of the owl is really first rate.