NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy Bortle 8 Sydney

[Startrek (Martin)]

Just wanted see how the new 2600MC camera would perform imaging a dim galaxy under Bortle 8 Skyglow with limited data
NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy in Fornax
Magnitude 10.3
Size 5’ x 4’
2 hours of data over 2 nights ( 90 sec dithered guided subs )
Conditions ( seeing ) were average with some high cloud passing later on both nights
No darks or flats
6” f6 newt on an EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC
Ascom driver set at HDR ( gain 0 offset 50 )
Cooled to -15C
No filters used
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools v1.6 Linear data set

Stacked image ended up being a noisefest but managed to extract some sort of image out of the mayhem
All things considered the camera performed well
Another 2 or 3 hours definitely would have improved SNR and resulted in more detail

2 versions original frame size and cropped

You can make out a few faint fuzzies in the field from the original version

Comments most welcome

Thanks

[AdamJL]

That's a beauty. Loved the uncropped version.

I've asked Santa for this camera

[xelasnave]

Fantastic Martin....you must be giving a lot a folk inspiration to get into astro photography given that with the six inch you could get away with a HEQ 5 I expect ... Now here is me using a 115 mm thinking its cool and the six inch Newtonian has much more app. But I think the camera is doing a lot of work to get you over the line.
Again great job. I hope to get something tonight as it is looking good here..bit of wind however...I may take a bed roll out there.
Alex

[PKay (Peter)]

Nice one M

You have resolved the core well.

I have found about 5 hrs is the minimum (f/l = 1050 f/r = 7).

I went for NGC1566 last night but high cloud killed it.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks Adam, Alex and Peter
I wanted more data but high cloud rolled in on both nights plus threw away a few subs with Mr Musks Starlink streaks
It’s a real battle under Bortle 8 skies with that skyglow trying to image tiny galaxies
The 2600MC does have a type of luminance filter ( IR / UV cut ) which helps a bit but nothing replaced being under Bortle 3 skies on the South Coast
I can’t always get down there due to Grandparent duties and other commitments in Sydney so I image from both locations, both have their challenges but nothing replaces a dark sky !!

Thanks again

[jahnpahwa (JP)]

I think that's a great job, Martin! I made a start on this one too, but got absolutely nowhere near what you've pulled out of it! Really nice detail through the core, sharp as ever. Great!

[Robert_T]

wow I continue to be amazed at what you can do with this scope (albeit with a fantabulous camera) under such challenging sky conditions!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks JP and Robert
My little 6” newt cost me $299 in 2016 and now it only costs $399 ( only an increase of $25 a year )
All I did was replace the single speed focuser with a dual speed crayford and replace the crappy primary mirror springs with good quality locally made springs
A good quality 5” or 6” refractor will cost you $5,000 to $7,000
Alex up at Tabulam has said many many times a 6” f5 or f6 newt is a great all round scope highly under used and underestimated in Astrophotography
Some folk who are newcomers to the hobby steer away from newts and go straight for an ED80 to learn the ropes ( which is totally fine ) they hear the word “Collimation” and cringe or gotta clean the mirrors or too hard to balance , or “Coma” things of that nature , but I chose the newt path after seeing some images in 2016 taken with a 6” newt both DSO and Planetary and I was hooked
Anyway it gives me more money to spend on mounts , cameras etc.., like my new 2600MC OSC camera

Thanks again !