M51 a year apart

[Ford Prefect]

Hi

Been a bit busy recently with moving house so have only just got round to processing an image of M51 I took in March 09. This is the second image I have taken with "Rog's" old Atik 16hrc ( which is a great camera for Galaxy work ). I still seem to be struggeling to get the vivid colours you see in other images of M51 but that gives me something to work on over the summer

I have included another image of M51 that I took almost a year ago with my C8 SCT and QHY8 in the hope that it will give encouragement to those of you who are just starting off taking astro images.

This is not to say that I think the first image is perfect, far from it, what I hope it demonstrates is that with time, help and advice (especially from individuals on SGL) and a little bit of cash is that we can all produce some very respectable images.

Cheers Jon

OTA: SW 190 Mak Newt

Guiding: William Optics 90 DSI pro II PHD

ATIK 16HRC MaximDL, 30x300s

Stacked using: DeepSkyStacker

Processed using PSCS2

[Trevorw]

to coin an old phrase

"what a difference a year makes"

should we call you Ford Perfect

[Lester]

Its always good to see progress, well done.

[Aza]

Great image! The year really has done wonders for your skills!

[barkis]

The Ford Prefect and the SW 190MN make a good double act Jon.

It's a vastly improved M51.

Ron.

[moocher]

Maybe a touch dark but very nice, pin point stars!!!

Alan:)

[Tim]

Great post Jon!

Nice going.

[steppenwolf]

A good post and hopefully some great encouragement for anyone just starting out - we all have to start somewhere and it's never at the top!

[Ford Prefect]

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated. Astro imagining is one of the most frustrating hobbies I have ever done and its easy to get disheartened but as with golf its that one good "shot" that makes you come back for more.

Jon

[Whippy]

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated. Astro imagining is one of the most frustrating hobbies I have ever done and its easy to get disheartened but as with golf its that one good "shot" that makes you come back for more.

Jon

That sums it up in a nutshell mate . Do like that M51 too!

Tony..