Disturbed & twisted galaxy NGC 3718 + companions

[Grinde]

Hey! After over a month of bad weather & colliding workschedule, I finally got a chance to shoot some more photos! Putting the Tak aside, & trying the CCD with my 190MN for the first time, & also installing a Robofocus motor to the stock focuser. Picking the target, I randomly surfed the sky using Cartes du ciel, looking for something high in the sky that I've never heard of or seen before, since the only galaxies I've shot so far is M31, M51 & M81/M82. I found 2 tiny spots in the planetarium that would fit in the same shot. So this was very new (& small!) for me!

Unfortunately I unplugged my laptops powersupply by accident, when closing the lid to my laptopcase before heading home for a nap (early work day after) while the gear was working, so I only got 1h 15m before the computer died. But I think some clouds moved in shortly after, anyways. Good thing I set Maxim to collect LRGB-LRGB-LRGB instead of LLL-RRR-GGG-BBB, so I still had data to play with! I'm very happy with the robofocus, that changes focus with each filter-change to compensate for the small offsett. (not sure it'd make a differance if it didn't refocus, since it's very small adjustments). I'm soo amazed by the "budget astrograph" 190MN, what a great scope!

NGC 3718, NGC 3729, Hickson 56

LRGB, calibrated with flats & darks

L 6*5min

RGB 3*5min each channel

(Click image for 100% version)

Thanks for watching

& Thanks Mr.Shah for sharing your superb photoshop-action for reducing the star-sizes!

/ Jonas

[RogerTheDodger]

Wow, what a lovely image... there are a fair few things in the background too

[Fenriz]

That is awesome, huge variation is star colour. Well done

Mark

[Breakintheclouds]

That's stunning. I love all the other little galaxies visible there.

[astrobob]

Oh my.... here's what I like... your background is very smooth... the galaxies are well processed and the cores are not over saturated... and most of all you have maintained the star colors.

A+++++

bob

[Revs]

Great image Jonas

[dc509]

wow - huge amount of stuff going on in the background in the full res image - brilliant!

d

[WolfsPride]

Oh my.... here's what I like... your background is very smooth... the galaxies are well processed and the cores are not over saturated... and most of all you have maintained the star colors.

A+++++

bob

^ This ^ awesome job

I'm hoping to be able to see things like this when my 12" Dob comes in

[Catanonia]

oh yes that is very very nice and another in the bag for the MN190.

Lovely processing and great colours. Sooooooooo nmuch going on in the rest of the image, defianately one to be proud of.

[Grinde]

Thank you all for the kind comments! I might've pushed the star-shrinking a little bit too much. It was hard to off-axis guide at 1000mm with gusting winds, but i'm still very happy with the result, since I didn't think such small galaxies would look this good at 'just' 1000mm.

[astroimpulse]

Spectacular.

Images like these really do capture the essence of space. All those tiny/distant galaxies help to put the two main ones into context.

Love it...

[msinclairinork]

That's a corker!!

As mentioned great processing too.

Well done,

Michael

[ollypenrice]

Like you, Grinde, I am amazed by the detail resolved at a metre of FL. Lovely image and a refreshing target, too. Superb star and galaxy colour.

Oly

[R Fisher]

Excellent image, colour, details and depth seem spot on with a nice neutral background.

[althecoal]

Stunning picture, so much going on in the background , its the sort of area of sky that you just want to keep adding more and more data too to see even more objects..

[MikeD]

A fantastic result, great colour and nice detail.

Mike.

[mark7331]

Fantastic results! What an image!

[Grinde]

Thanks! I'm very happy with the starcolors using this setup, another win for the 190MN. Unfortunately the session was cut short, I'd love to get some more time in Lum & see how much stuff that can be pulled out in the background!