Sombrero M104.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi,

Here's another galaxy image, M104 this time.
Taken on Saturday when it was hot, I used ISO 800 for this image.
A question though, how do you bring out star colours when processing?

Telescope. 8" f/4.
Mount HEQ Pro .
Camera. Unmodded Canon 1100D.
10 x 120 sec subs.
9 x dark frames.
9 bias.
1 flats.
Stacked in DSS.
Processed in Photoshop.

Cheers,
Justin.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

It's a beaut galaxy Justin

Nice work.

Mike

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Thanks Mike,

Nice to know I'm heading in the right direction.

Cheers,

Justin.

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Nicely done.

Frank

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi Frank,

Thanks.

Cheers,

Justin.

[stardust steve (Steve)]

nice capture. Such a mysterious Galaxy this one i think. I love how you can see the distinctive outer edge

[astronobob (Bob)]

My most favourite target due to being the 1st Galaxy I visually saw with a home made 8" mirror and scope back in early 1990's : )

Your Sambrero is nicely exposed, Dusttlane nice and contrasty with some minute knots within it just visible. The central bulge is also well decernable !
One thing i see is a rather dark background sky which suggest the Clipping of the black point, depending on your proccessing methods ? I always had a habit of doing similar with Galaxies and was told over & over : )
Star colours can be enhanced by using Saturation, providing you only have the Stars selected ! I also introduce a very fine Blur to spread a little colour toward the center of the larger stars, tho this must be done carefully as Not to blur the outside of the star making them look fuzzy !
Hope this helps ?
Nice work Justin
Rgrds
Bob

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Thanks Bob,

Every little bit of info helps, I'm copying and pasting all the tid bits into a help file.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Ross G]

A fantatstic capture Justin.

What a great galaxy photo.


Ross.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Thanks Ross,

I finally completed my setup today. Installed the auto guider aligned evrything, had a bit fo trouble with cable length for the auo guider.
It wouldn't work, a bit of playing around and thats sorted.

All I need is some clear skies to check it all.

Cheers,

Justin.

[LucasB (Lucas)]

Nice work Justin. A nice clean image well captured.
Looks like a litte coma present. Always going to be with the 8" at F4. Coma corrector will help this such as a Baader MPCC. I have field curvature with my 130mm F6 refractor which has a similar look to it. Flattener arriving this week so weather will probably let me down...
Regards,
Lucas

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by AstroAussie

Nice work Justin. A nice clean image well captured.
Looks like a litte coma present. Always going to be with the 8" at F4. Coma corrector will help this such as a Baader MPCC. I have field curvature with my 130mm F6 refractor which has a similar look to it. Flattener arriving this week so weather will probably let me down...
Regards,
Lucas

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for the comments.
Hopefully testing out my coma corrector tonight, hopefully Iv'e got the spacing right this time.
This should be the last peice of the puzzle, just hoping the cloud stays away!!!
The last two nights Iv'e set up, fast moving cloud arrived.

Cheers,

Justin.