M33

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Taking advantage of clear skies in Victoria last night, I decided to challenge myself and photograph the Triangulum Galaxy. At only about 20 degrees above the horizon, it's rarely a sought after object this far south. With the help of nice dark skies from central Victoria I managed this result from just on 1 hour of integration (60 x 1min subs).


Captured with my 8 inch f5 Newtonian, unguided on a Heq5pro mount with a modded Canon 550d at 1600iso and UVIR cut filter. Processed in DSS and PS.

[Atmos (Colin)]

For one hour of integration 20° above the horizon, you gotta be happy with that

[Imme (Jon)]

Got to be happy with that don't you!

Great effort on such a low object.....and that processing has really brought out some detail.

Really happy to see that result

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

For one hour of integration 20° above the horizon, you gotta be happy with that

Yes, thanks Colin, I am rather happy with the result. I've been wanting to have a crack at this object after seeing it in one om my nightscape shots I took featuring this region of the sky.

Originally Posted by Imme

Got to be happy with that don't you!

Great effort on such a low object.....and that processing has really brought out some detail.

Really happy to see that result

Glad you like it Jon, the detail isn't too bad considering the amount of atmosphere it was shot through.

[Imme (Jon)]

I honestly thought at 20' you wouldn't get anything near this.....I stand corrected and will keep it in mind for my own future shots

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Pretty amazing for such a low altitude

[xelasnave]

Wow!
That is a great capture irrespective of where you are Michael.
I am up North and three days of rain so far but your image cheered me up I tell you.
An excellent image.
Alex

[Startrek (Martin)]

That’s a great image Michael at low altitude, my 6” could never resolve such detail at those magnitudes
Unfortunately the east coast is covered in cloud for the next week so have to be patient
Have you tried Startools for processing it’s a great piece of software and so many features

[Lee]

That's a great image, especially given the conditions you were under.... and unguided with a big newt too... that mount must be a good one....

[RyanJones]

Great image Michael. I set my self up to capture this one the other night too but I couldn't quite get enough set back to get it over my roof line. It is on my to do list though.

Well done

[Karlzburg (Karl)]

Awesome work Michael for such a low object, like Martin said give star tools a good. I've not long started using it and has made a massive difference to my final image.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Plenty to like about this Mickoid, good to see a rarely imaged galaxy from this far south, I especially like the expanse of the spirals they stretch out far into the background with plenty of nebulosity shining through. Cheers mate, good work.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Imme

I honestly thought at 20' you wouldn't get anything near this.....I stand corrected and will keep it in mind for my own future shots

Under dark skies, as long as it's visible, there's always a chance but you better not wait too long, by about the end of December it will be setting with the sun.

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Pretty amazing for such a low altitude

Thanks Chris, not as low as M31 which makes it slightly easier.

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Wow!
That is a great capture irrespective of where you are Michael.
I am up North and three days of rain so far but your image cheered me up I tell you.
An excellent image.
Alex

Thanks Alex, glad I could cheer you up. Well if the rain clears and you're still up north maybe give it a go, could be 30 degrees or more above the horizon!

Originally Posted by Startrek

That’s a great image Michael at low altitude, my 6” could never resolve such detail at those magnitudes
Unfortunately the east coast is covered in cloud for the next week so have to be patient
Have you tried Startools for processing it’s a great piece of software and so many features

Thanks Martin, it's so frustrating when you're itching to do some astrophotography and the weather just won't cooperate. Don't worry, it will get clearer as the moon starts waxing. I haven't had a serious go at Startools yet, everyone raves about it so it must be good. Hard to break old habits, I've been using PS for over 25 years so I guess that's where my confidence lies.

Originally Posted by Lee

That's a great image, especially given the conditions you were under.... and unguided with a big newt too... that mount must be a good one....

Thanks Lee, well it was a good one on Friday night, as long as you don't touch the power cable plug on the mount while it's slewing! The plug connection has become quite loose and is very sensitive. Nothing like having to send it back to home position each time it loses power.

Originally Posted by RyanJones

Great image Michael. I set my self up to capture this one the other night too but I couldn't quite get enough set back to get it over my roof line. It is on my to do list though.

Well done

Thanks Ryan, sounds like you may have to relocate your scope for this one, there's no way I'd get sight of it from where I live. Anything under 50 degrees in the north is out of the question with all the trees at my place.

Originally Posted by Karlzburg

Awesome work Michael for such a low object, like Martin said give star tools a good. I've not long started using it and has made a massive difference to my final image.

Cheers Karl, glad you liked it. I'm quite competent using PS so I don't know whether Startools will be a huge advantage but you're right, I should at least give it a go and compare the results.

Originally Posted by Anth10

Plenty to like about this Mickoid, good to see a rarely imaged galaxy from this far south, I especially like the expanse of the spirals they stretch out far into the background with plenty of nebulosity shining through. Cheers mate, good work.

Thanks Anthony, yes, I wonder how far out those arms spread. If where I shot this from hadn't been so cold and so far from home, I would have liked to have given it another hour of exposure. I am grateful the location gave me a good view of it and as for the cold, well it kept the camera sensor cool!

[xelasnave]

Michael
I can assure you that Startools will be a huge advantage.
All I ever used was PS in the old days.
This time around I went GIMP because it was free and I wanted to get started.
I then purchased PS.
I downloaded a yrial of Pixinsite and Starltools and didnot think either were of interest.
For some reason I purchased Startools and I guess because I spent $60 I was determined to give it a good work out.
At first I thought it was crap.
The auto develop threw me mostly but it seemed so slow and changes were not noticable.
I would give up half way through...but one day it came together and I can now highly recommend it.
Alex