M109 - A very challenging Messier

[derrickf]

here's a first pass at processing the M109 data I collected during the clear spell we had at the beginning of the month. The surface brightness of M109 is pretty low and there is not a huge dynamic range in the arms so this is something of a bear to process.

I certainly think I can do better with the data I have and will use this as a test piece to try out PixInsight for the first time, so I'll be back with another, hopefully better, version of this in the next week or so.

Image Statistics:

Toscano 8" RC at F/9

Astrophysics Mach1 GOTO mount

SBIG ST-10XME.

L = 13 x 600s unbinned

R=G=B = 9 x 600s binned 2x2

suggestions for improvement are welcome as always.

Derrick

[russ]

Very nice Derrick.....those spiral arms are amazing.

Russ

[Taff]

Nicely done Derrick' That a very nice capture of M109.Mark

[yeti monster]

Stoppit! stoppit now! All you imagers will have me remortgaging the castle to start in that crazy habit!

Fantastic image Derrick!

[RobH]

Great result Derrick.

I've had a couple of half-hearted attempts at this, and it's a tricky one indeed!

Well done

Rob

[harry page]

Hi

Great work and the arms look fine to me

Harry

[Whippy]

Very nice Derrick, you don't see this one imaged a great deal so it's nice to see it .

Tony..

[Psychobilly]

Cracker... go on YM you know you makes sense....

Billy....

[peter shah]

a super shot..

[Tim]

very pretty galaxy that one, nicely presented

[Starflyer]

Lovely image Derrick, tricky target indeed but it looks great.

[johnh]

What a beautiful galaxy, not easy but a success indeed.

John.

[Sam]

Very nice image, lovely colour and those spiral arms are fantastic!

[Beyond_Vision]

A very interesting galaxy with quite a prominant bar. Nicely captured Derrick

Regards

Kevin

[adamsp123]

Super image Derrick, very nice detail showing.

[derrickf]

Thanks everybody for your comments.

I've just downloaded the PixInsight trial software and am trying to re-process tha data with it - clearly the software is very powerful but there is a huge learning curve.

Derrick

[Tim]

Have a go with the Hi dynamic range wavelet tool Derrick (HDRWT), worth following Harry's tutorials on it.