M83 and distant friends

[Mickoid]

The weather has been amazing here in Melbourne over the last few weeks and most nights have been clear. Seeing and Transparency have also been above average so I'm taking every opportunity to get out there and snap away! This was Saturday nights attempt at M83 under good seeing albeit a warm night heating up the sensor and a moon rising. As I look through my subs you can see the sky glow getting worse as the moon rises higher in the sky. Despite the drawbacks it turned out a nice widefield with plenty of faint fuzzies in the background to track down.

22 x 1min subs @ 1600 iso Canon 550d unguided on an HEQ5pro through my SW Esprit 100 triplet.

[luka]

The image is missing, it did not get attached to your post.

[Mickoid]

Sorry, I was editing the post as the image was way too big and compression artifacts made it look horrible.

[Anth10]

Nice snap Mickoid, M83 is a beautiful galaxy, your image is just that.
This galaxy will climb higher in the coming months so you may like to add more to it to enhance it even further.
Well done!

[traveller]

Great effort Michael,
Now it is rising earlier and the moon phasing out, so more time to get better shots.
Try longer subs if you can as it will give you more details.
Bo

[Atmos]

Very nice!
There is another smudge towards the top left :)

[Mickoid]

Thanks Colin, yes, not sure whether that's an unresolved cluster or another galaxy but I've counted at least 10 faint fuzzies in the higher resolution Tiff file. Weather permitting, I'll add some more data this weekend and try pushing the exposure beyond 1 min if my PA is good enough to handle it.

[LostInSp_ce]

Great shot! I love the field of view and subtle colours.

[Mickoid]

Thanks for the compliment, yes the widefield really puts these wonderful objects into perspective. I wonder if someone there has taken a similar image of our Milky Way! :question:

[barx1963]

I think, (happy to be corrected though) it may be NGC 5292.

[Anth10]

Hi Malcolm,
I can see perhaps why you say that since they do have a similar likeness although I do in fact believe it is M83 due to the three Mag 10 stars in line to the west of the galaxy which point directly to the much brighter 7 Mag star HIP66539.
This configuration tells me for certain that it is the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy.
It can be confusing at times with so many similar looking fuzzies in the sky;)



Clear Skies,
Anth10

[Anth10]

Hi Malcolm,
My apologies I didn't read your reference to the comment mickoid made in regard to the faint fuzzie!!
You may very well be correct as your suggested galaxy lies very close to M83:rofl:

All best.