M109 initial result

[darditti]

Here is a process of 1 hour's exposure on M109 from the 26th, in 5 minute subs. C-11 Hyperstar mode (f2), QHY8 camera, Orion Skyglow filter.

I have 2 more nights of exposure on this, but haven't yet incorporated them.

This is the whole image. You would need a very big screen to see the image properly in one go. There are lots of other faint galaxies visible, including an oblique spiral just below to the right, and an almost face-on spiral further below to the left. It would be interesting to research how faint these are and how far away, but I haven't yet done so.

David

(Click to enlarge)

[sat12345]

Can't enlarge?, but really nice pic

[darditti]

Enlargement should work now. Maybe not. Having trouble with my web provider.

David

[sat12345]

Cheers buddy all working good now

[661-pete]

Very nice David, plenty of detail there in a less-often seen galaxy, just shows how big a field the Hyperstar gives you! And a nice image of Phad, good move to keep it in the frame, puts these UMa galaxies nicely in 'context'... Keep 'em coming!

Been looking through CdC .... the face-on spiral to the bottom, just left of centre, which you mentioned, is UGC 6983 blue mag. 13.36/surface brightness 15.2;

the fuzzy right on the bottom edge to the left, is NGC 4068 14.05/15.4;

the fuzzy just below and to the right of M109 is UGC 6923 14.05/14.23;

and there are lots more of course! Hope this helps.

[darditti]

Thanks Pete. It's useful to know what magnitude of galaxy is being attained in 1 hour with this setup.

The Hyperstar is perhaps not the best tool for this subject. The 245mm f4.8 Newt might have been better, but I am biding my time, keeping this setup on the mount in readiness for the summer nebulae. The short FL combined with the high declination made for easy tracking - this image was unguided!

David

[ASIGN_Baz]

Great shot. What's the big blue ring just above and left of centre?

Baz.

[Andrew*]

Just what I was going to ask, Baz - like no optical defect I've ever seen...

Great pic, David. Love the spikey star and faint fuzzies in the background. I count perhaps 10.

[darditti]

The blue ring just about shows up on one of my monitors but not the other. I think it must be an artefact, possibly something to do with GradientXterminator, or a flat fielding fault. I'll see what the result is when I combine with the other nights.

The star spikes come in fact from the various wires into the camera mounted in front of the telescope. I took some care in arranging them to give a right-angled pattern.

David

[661-pete]

The blue ring just about shows up on one of my monitors but not the other.

You might do worse than get yourself a Sony TFT monitor like mine - purely and simply because it's so 'bright' and readily shows up lingering gradients in images that come up perfect on other monitors! I'd missed the blue ring on first glance at your result, but now it's obvious!

The star spikes come in fact from the various wires into the camera mounted in front of the telescope. I took some care in arranging them to give a right-angled pattern.

At which you've succeeded - but still managed to keep a very bright star under control! I wonder if what I thought was a satellite trail extending directly below Phad to the lower edge, is in fact the extension of one of the spikes.

I'm glad the spikes are 'natural' i.e. diffraction-induced. This from another one who's not all that keen on adding spikes in the processing! But perhaps best not to launch a debate on that, not at this time of night!