M83

[peter_4059]

Finally got around to capturing an image for the first time this year after spending a lot of time playing with autoguiding and autofocus. I'm really loving having the mount permanently set up with good polar alignment and fast setup/packup. I think I need to spend some time on the collimation and re-learning how to use PI.

Anyway, despite all that and the near full moon, here's 12x5min Lum subs of M83, using the QSI683/SN10/EQ6.

Thanks for looking!

[RickS]

Looks good, Peter! Less than ideal conditions :)

[astronobob]

Inspiring detail and sharpness for a SCT Peter, Only a week and that moon will have given way :thumbsup: oh, and hope the weather, mmm, how you manage this ere in seqld this time of yr anyway :question: ;)
Gotta be happy with some data to play with for a change :thumbsup:

[Garbz]

Looking nice Peter, hope the weather clears for you.

[troypiggo]

Not sure how I missed this one. Well done mate.

[Placidus]

Looking good. Well done.

Minor point. There seems to be a dark ring around the galaxy, occupying much of the image. Perhaps the master flat is wrong, or perhaps it's an artifact of local contrast enhancement.

Very nice.

best,
Mike

[Shiraz]

looks great - resolution is right up there, with fine detail visible - and the stars look OK.

The background appears to have suffered from sky gradients, but you may be able to clear up the residual dark ring around the galaxy with (another?) DBE pass in PI

[peter_4059]

Thanks for the comments. I was fighting a monster gradient - possibly from the full moon rising. I'll give DBE another try. I've also been playing with guiding settings trying to improve the star shape however I've concluded this OTA is just too heavy for the EQ6 so I've decided to upgrade to an EQ8. Hope to get it in the next couple of days. Hopefully the rain will pass soon.