M104 - Sombrero Galaxy

[JonTT]

Hi, managed to grab some clear sky last night and get 4x5min subs of M104. I've managed to get my SX-A0 running at last, but it still won't bump the scope in the Y-axis properly so having to nudge it by hand every so often. Very little processing done on this, feel free to improve it!

[NickK]

Great dust detail!

Only one suggestion - personally I'd be tempted to scale the stacking so that none of the stars or the parts of 104 are saturated (ie the value of the pixel doesn't go over 65,000ish if it's 16bit). That way you'll pull out the intricate detail and give a more 3D effect to the stars and image as a whole.

You can then use curves to fine tune, bringing out further low level detail without causing saturation of the brightest stars/core.

[JonTT]

Thanks Nick, is this any better?

[oldfruit]

Both nice pics but the second one looks loads better.

[JonTT]

Thanks Oldfruit, I should have spotted the stars oversaturating - good suggestion from Nick. May try some RGB when I get the chance, but really want to get some time with M51...

[lukebl]

The second one's a great image.

Was that taken with the DMK? Someone on another thread queried if there were any decent DSO images taken with a DMK, and this certainly proved that's true! Mind you, not all of us have a 14". What exposures did you use?

EDIT - Ah, I see you've just changed your signature to include a QSI 583. Presumably you used that?

[JonTT]

Hi, Luke, sorry old signiture now updated...

[WayBig]

nice, i was trying to get to see this last night, but it was too low down. Thanks for the picture.

[NickK]

Thanks Nick, is this any better?

Yes!

[RogerTheDodger]

A lovely image

[MG1]

That's a great 104...I only seemed to capture enough data to make half of it. It's a tough target in the UK and you've done a cracking job.

Well done

[Coco]

Wow! was that from Cheshire?... thought you would have to be on the south coast to get a chance at this.. looks like I'll be dragging my gear up Coniston Old Man at the weekend

[Penfold]

Wow! was that from Cheshire?... thought you would have to be on the south coast to get a chance at this.. looks like I'll be dragging my gear up Coniston Old Man at the weekend

LOL.. Take Angus a biscuit.

Nice improvement on the second one, looks very good for 20mins of data.