A few quick galaxy pics

[doppler]

Finally after months of relentless clouds we have had a couple of clear nights here in Mackay. Here are a few of my first proper attempts at auto guiding.
Centaurus A, 15 X 120sec at iso 1600 guided
NGC 4945, 14 x 120sec at iso 1600 guided
Leo trio, 12 x 90sec at iso 1600 unguided

Scope GSO RC6, HEQ5 pro mount, ASI120mc guide camera on 50mm finder guider.

[Anth10]

Good work, nice tracking. I reckon you could go for longer subs too.:thumbsup:
Good on you for taking the plunge adopting guiding, I'm still yet to try.

[cometcatcher]

Good looking galaxies Rick. I'm thinking of the asi120mc also for guiding. How do you find it?

[doppler]

Thanks Anthony, auto guiding has not been as easy to set up as I thought it would be, lots of things to tweek to get everything playing, but it's a bit like goto, makes life easy when you get it to work properly. Looking forward to some clear winters nights, clouds really mess auto guiding up.



Thanks Kevin, I found that the asi120mc is a great little camera once I finished the head scratching and worked out how to set it up, there's a bit more adjusting than the DSLR's that I'm more used to. I would like to try some deep space with it but haven't worked that one out yet, bit more googling and youtubing to do yet.
It makes a good planetary camera as well. These were taken at prime focus with my 180mm mak cass.

[cometcatcher]

Those Jupiter pics are super! I wanted to get something for planets as well. My Newt is still a bit on the short side though and I hate barlows. The best ever view of Saturn I had was from a 180mm Mak.

[doppler]

The 180mm Mak certainly lives up to its reputation as a planet killer, its nice to be able to get good detail without using barlows or tiny fl eyepieces. I did try to push the Mak to the max on Jupiter with the asi120mc, but I think that one of those rare super seeing nights will be needed to get a good result. The things we to for an astro fix when the weather is not the best.
Jupiter @ 13,500mm fl at f75 (2700mm + 5x barlow)

[raymo]

With a 6" scope and 120 sec subs @ISO 1600 the Cigar Galaxy should have
the light brown colour from whence it got its name; maybe you need to look at your processing, Rick.
raymo

[LostInSp_ce]

Nice galaxy pics Rick I really like the composition of the third one and your Jupiter pics are equally impressive.

[doppler]

Processing is definitely not my strong point. I still shoot jpg and just stack in DSS and have a quick play with a few sliders in photoshop. I am totally out of the loop when I read about the type of processing those in the main photo section do. I cant ever see myself joining the multiple hour integration time club. I just like to get pics of stuff that I can barley see through the eye piece.

[cometcatcher]

That's why I like comets. I usually spend a max of 15 minutes on them. Instant gratification! How often do we get multi hour clear nights in Mackay anyway? Not many.

[raymo]

I have attached a pic I took some years ago, which was "processed"
solely in DSS. If you synchronise the RGB curves in DSS you will get
pretty pleasing colour balance.
raymo

[doppler]

Raymo, your pics are a perfect example that you can get great images without the expense and hoo haa that many think is mandatory.

[raymo]

A bit off topic, but in reply to your comments, I did film and manual guiding AP for over 55 yrs, and by the time digital turned up, I was not able[or
willing] to put in the effort to learn all the new skills. I therefore stuck with
a DSLR, noise reduction enabled, JPEG, generally 1600 or 3200 ISO,
unguided [30-120secs], no separate darks/ flats/ biases. Almost all processing
carried out in DSS; PS is too much for me, I wasted my money getting it;
almost never used it, same goes even more for BYEOS which I never used.
I was reasonably happy with my results at such a basic level. All my gear is now gone, and I enjoy looking at the results that newbies are now getting.
raymo