M81 and M82 - my first galaxies

[rikyuu]

hi,

here's another couple, my first imaged galaxies from last night.

Taken with a Canon 300d, C80-ED on a Celestron SLT ALT/AZ mount, 6 frames stacked in DSS, ISO 1600, 30s. Conditions: fairly clear, not so dark sky, city centre. Some (random!) adjustments in PS. As you can see from the border, DSS has done a good job of field rotating the 6 images.

I think NGC3077 can just be seen at the top left too

M81 and M82 were 2 of the first galaxies I saw in my 10" dob when I started astronomy last year, just as faint smudges. It's great to be able to image them at last and to be able to capture more detail in a 3" scope than I saw visually in a 10" scope. I'm really quite please with this one.

cheers

[greenkat]

Hi Rikyuu

Nice image,

I hope you dont mind but couldn't resist having a play with it.

[rikyuu]

no I don't mind at all, that is excellent (my PS skills are poor), I can just see the spirals forming, fantastic!.

I would like to get a few more subs of this to reduce the noise. I'll keep trying.