Leo galaxy triplet quickie

[cometcatcher]

I thought this came out pretty well considering I only gave it 43 minutes, and the weather was stinking hot. This is with 86 x 30 seconds. Have to limit subs to 30 seconds in this heat, otherwise thermal noise becomes a problem.

Bintel 8" F4 Newtonian, Baader MPCC MKIII, Pentax K-5, HEQ5 pro unguided and unattended (used the inbuilt interval timer) out the bedroom window. :P

Bigger here ---> http://astrob.in/151839/0/

[Geoff45]

You've captured some good detail there Kevin. Well done.
Geoff

[nebulosity.]

That is really nice Kevin, great capture.

Cheers
Jo

[strongmanmike]

Excellent for a quickie Kevin!

Mike

[RickS]

Nice work, Kevin!

[PeterEde]

Very cool

[gregbradley]

That's a great DSLR shot. It nice to see some other types of cameras being used. There are some good ones out there.

Greg.

[SimmoW]

Fantastic result, use that window more often!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

That's a remarkable result Kevin!:thumbsup:

After experiencing Queensland in Summer for the first time, I appreciate how well you have done without cooling.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Tony_]

Great image Kevin!

The images here with 10+ hours of 10+ minute subs are spectacular, but your image times are more realistic to what I can do with limited clear skies.
Your 8" F4 gets a lot of detail in a short time. It would be a good in between focal length for me (currently I do 9.25 sct at f10 or f6.3 and an 80mm f6). Only problem is I don't think my wife understands the concept of multiple telescopes (otherwise I'd have as many telescopes as you).

Tony.

[Ross G]

Great capture Kevin.

A very good photo from such short exposure.

Ross.

[Mick]

Sweet image mate, nice little storm we had tonight.

[cometcatcher]

Thanks very much to all.

This is the first decent image I have of this since my film days 25 years ago. 43 minutes is about the maximum (for this declination) I can get from this particular window in one session with the 8". I could do multiple nights, but that is something for the more frequent clear nights of winter. And running at F4 in summer definitely helps. Don't think I could have taken this shot in summer with the F9 refractor.