NGC4945 Galaxy in Centaurus

[rmuhlack]

Came across this target after seeing the good examples of this galaxy posted here on IIS over the last month or so.

My first day of imaging this one revealed an issue with my scope and camera setup - with the camera angled 90 degrees to that shown here I was getting horrible elongated smearing in the left top corner. Rotate the camera 90 degrees and the problem goes away. I lost a day's worth of subs to that little mystery. A collimation issue of some sort im sure, but given the hassle it was to collimate this VC200L in the first place i decided to go with the setup that works and deal with the issue another day.

Anyway after another three nights on this target here is the final product. Fairly average seeing, but with the last few nights being cloud free I was determined to get a result regardless.

Vixen VC200L with f6.4 focal reducer
Modded Canon 1000D
154 x 4 min subs
ISO1600
Processed with Pixinsight 1.8

Hi res here: http://www.astrobin.com/full/47050/?mod=none

Critique welcomed

[Larryp]

Nice image, Richard

[FlashDrive]

Very Nice.....nice colours...

Flash....

[LewisM]

GREAT image Richard!

I dub you DSLR Astrophotgrapher of the decade! INCREDIBLE work, and scientifically justified results too.

[rmuhlack]

Thanks guys. Other shots indicate that there is a lot of galactic cirrus present in this area, so here is my 'enhanced luminance' version.

I'm wondering which one is the preferred image - the one in the original post, or this one with a boost to the background luminance?

[ZeroID]

Better contrast in the first one is my call. Nice image regardless :thumbsup:

[alan meehan]

good result Richard and nice processing the vixen does a lovely job
AL

[strongmanmike]

The exposure time has resulted in a smooth result by the looks of it Richard, great job :thumbsup: frustrations and oversights in our game of imaging are pretty common place :doh:

Mike

[IanP]

Super work, mate :thumbsup:
Just doing some maths: 154x4, geez, that is called persistence, with capital P :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing :hi:

[White Rabbit]

Very impressive,more so knowing that it was taken on a 1000d at iso 1600. I have one and they can be moist buggers.

Well done.

[Ross G]

Great looking galaxy photo Richard.

Ross.

[rmuhlack]

And they were just the subs that I kept!

Having so many dithered subs does seem to help a lot in keeping the noise under control, although it does give my PC it bit of a workout during stacking!!

[RobF]

One of the nicest renditions of this one I've seen Richard. I love the 2nd version bringing out more of the faint halos. Top stuff. Wonderful reward for your efforts!

[Rigel003]

Great image, colourful and detailed. Four nights!! I'm struggling to find one cloud free night.

[RickS]

Nice image, Richard! You got a good result from all that effort.

[rmuhlack]

you were right about TGVDenoise. Definitely superior to MMT

[Shiraz]

That is a nice result Richard. regards ray