M101 "Project"

[Yoddha]

Finally, yesterday we got here the good combination small Moon + clear sky, something that we didn't have for two months

So I decided to start a little project - M101 in 2 or 3 imaging sessions. I made my first drift alignment which was quite good (for first attempt) and gave me stable 50s exposures. Because more data will be added there was no much play in PS, just fast and ugly processing to see what was taken.

Here is the almost raw result so far : ISO1600; 42x50s + 1x60s +1x55s + 20 darks x50s (APT was used ). WO 110 + LXD-75 + Canon 1000D without guiding. I'm very happy

[ncjunk]

Very nice pic with such small subs! Not surprised that your happy with that one.

Neil c

[Yoddha]

Thanks Neil!

[jnp]

Thats a nice start. What I like about M101 is that its surroounded by loads of faint fuzzies. You already got NGC5474 2/3rds down on the left.

[samtheeagle]

That's a handy bit of software that APT eh? Nice start to the image, I look forward to seeing it develop...

[Keiran]

That looks brilliant... what a lovely result

[Yoddha]

Thank you friends!

[ollypenrice]

Very good start. M101 nearly killed me this year! (In fact I'm still working on it...)

You have very good stars so I wonder if you could push your exposure times a bit more? Certainly make them as long as you can get away with.

Olly

[Yoddha]

Thanks Olly! If the weather permits, tomorrow will go to the mountain for another session and will try to make a better drift-alignment. Hope that this will push the limit to 60-65s.

The best solution is to get into auto-guiding, but still can't dedicate time for this. The weather was bad for so long time here, that I'm very hungry for data

[Yoddha]

Last Thursday there was a chance to make a new session . But it wasn't very productive The drift-alignment didn't give such good result as the previous time and imaging was limited to 40s exposures. Also I didn't managed to frame the object by the same way and because of that wide-field was limited to smaller square.

So this is the result from around 1h and 25min total light - 50x50s + 53x40s + 9x45s + 1x55s + 1x60s; 45 darks (matching exposures); 40 bias frames. Everything is with ISO 1600 and taken with APT. This stack was made with MaximDL (didn't manage to get usable result from DSS ), and then there was some processing in PS.

Despite the problems this is my best astro image so far and I'm satisfied and very inspired for more

[Psychobilly]

Coming together nicely Ivo...

Peter...

[Yoddha]

Thanks Peter!

[ashworthacca]

Great Stuff Ivo, Looks like APT is really working!!!!

[Yoddha]

Thanks Martin!

Yes, it is pleasure to see that APT is doing the job that was created for In the field I understood that it will be good have a feature to help with orienting the camera by the same during multiple sessions, so in the next versions there will be something like that

[cloudbuster]

Very nice reult Ivo! Im a newbee, & made some serious errors in my attempt at this subject....the most important of which was having no appreciation of just how faint M101 is! :iamwithstupid:Hope u dont mind my posting my attempt on your thread.

Keep up the good work Ivo!

cheers

bob

Taken nr Bristol.....plenty of LP!

Orion 150 6"

Canon 300d

800 asa

10 subs 60 seconds

10 subs 90 seconds

12 subs 120 seconds

darks as above

17 bias 1/4000th sec

stacked in DSS

[Yoddha]

Thanks Bob! It is good to have a discussion about this object You are right that it is fainter object than expected... Luckily here in the nearby mountain the north is clear from LP BTW did you try to remove the LP in PS? Noel's actions can help with it.

[cloudbuster]

Thanks 4 that Ivo, tho i dont know how to remove the LP in PS? Also, do u know where i can get Noels Actions from?

hope u can help.

cheers

bob

[Yoddha]

Noel's actions can be purchased from here : Astronomy Tools Action Set by ProDigital Software There are two options Gradient removal and LP removal. My results are not so good as the samples on the site, but definitely this investment is making the life easier

[cloudbuster]

Thanks Ivo....appreciated muchos!

[Yoddha]

I'm always happy to be in help