Ngc2903

[Mickoid (Michael)]

This is one Messier overlooked in the constellation Leo. If my 500mm Tamron mirror lens can see it in a red zone in 2018, it's hard to believe he missed it 200 years ago! I took this on Monday night as it grazed the roof of my house with the Canon 550d and Tamron f8 500mm reflex lens mounted on the Sightron Nano Tracker. 18 x 40 secs 1600iso.

There's another galaxy to the right of Ngc 2903 showing up in the field as well.

[PKay (Peter)]

Good one Michael

It's always fun to try and work out the constellations.

Guessing here:

The 2 bright stars are Regulus and Algieba.

Denebola is out of frame.

That would put the small feint galaxy in Hydra.

Well done!

[Atmos (Colin)]

At 500mm the FOV is only about 1.5-2 full moons in size.
The galaxy is showing up well for such limited exposure and short exposures. There is at least one other galaxy in field too which is nice

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Nice find Mick.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Anth10

Nice find Mick.

Thanks Anthony, glad you liked it

Originally Posted by Atmos

At 500mm the FOV is only about 1.5-2 full moons in size.
The galaxy is showing up well for such limited exposure and short exposures. There is at least one other galaxy in field too which is nice

Thanks Colin, I was pleased to see this lens resolved some spiral structure in the galaxy. It was all just a bit of fun with simple equipment.

Originally Posted by PKay

Good one Michael

It's always fun to try and work out the constellations.

Guessing here:

The 2 bright stars are Regulus and Algieba.

Denebola is out of frame.

That would put the small feint galaxy in Hydra.

Well done!

Thanks Peter, there was no guessing the constellation, I new I had ngc 2903 in Leo and I think the star below it is Leo Lambda ( the one that has an inverted 'Y' symbol to identify it) it lies to the west of Leo Epsilon.

[jimmyh1555 (James)]

Good one, Mick! How did you fix the focus? I have a Rockinon 500mm mirror lens but haven't dared use it on Astro yet. I think they are great lenses. Recently I took some photos of HMAS Canberra on exercise in the Bass Strait, and they came out pretty well considering the ships were far away. I also tried the 2X extender (ie 1000mm) and got a real "Spy "photo. I found the focus a bit hit and miss

[Mickoid (Michael)]

The focus ring on the Tamron is quite firm but smooth. As long as it's not knocked, it will hold the focus pretty well, no need to lock. They are a bit slow at f8 and I am forced to use higher ISO values to keep the exposure short for the little Nano Tracker. At 500mm focal length, 40 second subs is about the limit on this mount. There'd be no way I would use a 2X converter. It would be near impossible to get enough exposure at f16 let alone a focal length of 1000mm and keep the stars round on this mount!