Ngc1365

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

If only I could have taken a pic this well when the supernova was in it. NGC1365, a galaxy 56 million light years away. Must be a big sucker to show up this well at that distance.

This is a work in progress, I've been nibbling away at it for 4 nights. Stars are probably a bit blobby as I've been learning to guide with PHD on it, and at first the PHD graph was pretty bad.

Just 2 minutes short of 6 hours of data. It's very noisy so I reckon it needs another 6 hours at least. 25 hours would be better but I don't have that sort of patience! I get bored with one object over that period lol. Not to mention the clouds... Amazing how many little galaxies pop up in the field with longer times.

Skywatcher ED100 at F9, Pentax K-5. The first session used 1 minute subs, the middle 5 minutes and the last session I got 10 minute subs easy. PHD guiding with a 68mm guidescope and a frame integration video camera. Seems to be a good guiding combo now that I've sorted out the autoguiding bugs.

http://astrob.in/109157/0/

[alpal]

Very nice result.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Very good NGC 1365 Kevin!

Looking at your astro bin version it shows plenty of subtle detail.

Cheers,

Justin.

[RickS (Rick)]

It must still be pretty low in the sky so that would contribute to the blobby stars. Nice one, Kevin!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Originally Posted by alpal

Very nice result.

Thanks Allan.

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

Very good NGC 1365 Kevin!

Looking at your astro bin version it shows plenty of subtle detail.

Cheers,

Justin.

Thanks Justin. I was pleasantly surprised how much was "developing" with time.

Originally Posted by RickS

It must still be pretty low in the sky so that would contribute to the blobby stars. Nice one, Kevin!

Thanks Rick. Yes it's pretty low and I finish up just before sunrise. The advantage of shooting this way here in the tropics is that we get the cooler temperatures at dawn. Shooting at dusk when it's still warm can get noisy for an uncooled DSLR. Plus shooting out the window limits me to 45 degrees elevation anyway.

[LewisM]

Lovely rendition. Shows just what DSLR's can do these days, what with yourself, Justin and Richard churning out spectacular results.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Thanks Lewis, much appreciated, although I think I have more learning to do to reach the level of Justin and Richard.

I just did a print run for the photo album and compared it to what I was shooting in the 1990's with much larger scopes using film. This little 4 inch refractor with a DSLR has left my 11 inch and film combo for dead. I suspect a mono CCD would be another giant step up. However it's winter and my DSLR is working pretty well at these temps so I'm having fun with it just the same.