7 hours on a single galaxy : NGC 6946

[Catanonia]

Decided that I would really test out the new EOS1000D with long exposures to see if it could handle the noise and the amp glow that the EOS350D had.

So I picked out a galaxy that was new to me, NGC 6946 a spiral galaxy.

NGC 6946, also known as the "Fireworks Galaxy", is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 10 million light-years away, on the border between the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 9, 1798. NGC 6946 is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. Nine supernovae (SN 1917A, SN 1939C, SN 1948B, SN 1968D, SN 1969P, SN 1980K, SN 2002hh, SN 2004et, and SN 2008S) have been observed in NGC 6946.

I targeted it with the Skywatcher ED120 900mm F7,5 refractor and used the Baader modded EOS1000D as a prime lens.

All mounted on EQ6 Pro with ED80 and QHY5 as guide.

I started with 8m subs, the absolute max for the 350D and quickly moved to 15min subs at ISO800

The Astronomik CLS clip LP filter is really good on this dslr and i reckon i could easily have got more than 15min subs.

Anyway, here she is 7 hours of NGC 6946 made up of 15min subs at ISO800 cropped quite a bit as it is a small little fuzzy. Fairly pleased with the colour / star forming parts of the arms I got and didn't have to push the data too much. Not much processing done here, other than levels / curves and contrast as well as colour balancing.

Larger version here

http://extraview.dnsalias.com/temp/NGC 6946 Large.jpg

.

[Astroscot2]

Its a faint puppy that one, well captured, my only criticism is your focus looks a little soft, I think you would have bagged more details otherwise

[arad85]

Nice one cat!

[Catanonia]

Was wondering about the focus and spent some time checking and re-checking with a Bahnitov mask. It is heavily cropped, here is the original and the crop area.

mmmm, looking at it, focus doesn't look bang on in the wide field...

[Astroscot2]

Yes, it is just slightly out Cat, Im in the habit of checking the first sub for focus before starting a sequence, its worth the hassle.

[MartinB]

Well done Cat, nice to know you can go as long as you need with the new cam

[barkis]

You answered your main question anyway Cat.

Worth another shot this one.

This galaxy has played host to 9 Supernovae don't you know.

I didn't till I looked it up..

Ron.