Ngc 5078

[codemonkey]

This is the first light for the new ROR and hopefully my return to frequent imaging. This is only the third image I've done in almost a year, with the other two being quite short integrations.

I may yet add more data to this, but I have to confess to losing motivation quickly once I get around the 10hr mark due to the diminishing returns in terms of SNR.

I did no flats for this, but instead did a synthetic flat using a novel (as far as I know) technique which I'll detail elsewhere. Won't work for every image but I cleaned up all the dust donuts and vignetting very easily without negatively impacting the SNR of the image.

Integration details:
L: 196x240" -15C bin 1x1
R: 12x240" -15C bin 1x1
G: 12x240" -15C bin 1x1
B: 11x240" -15C bin 1x1
Integration: 15.4 hours

Equipment used was that in my signature.

"Seeing" was actually poor / average for my location, which may be due to the construction materials of the new observatory and now required cool-down time for the scope.

Full resolution available on Astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/347263).

Edit: More data! Now 15.4hrs instead of 9.6hrs. Added new thumbnail. Same old link for full res.

[Placidus]

That's exquisite! Beautiful realistic processing. Lovely composition. Both the object selection and your handling of it are motivating.

Welcome back!

[cometcatcher]

What a beautifully imaged pair of galaxies, nicely framed with that bright yellow star. That's the Sony 178 chip is it?

[Bart]

Very nice image, well done.

[RickS]

Very nice, Lee! Perhaps just a little dark? Maybe you need another 10 hours of data :lol:

[codemonkey]

Thanks very much! :D



Thanks Kevin! Yes, that's the Sony IMX178. I was worried when I first got it because it has banding that changes every frame, and in my initial tests showed significantly inconsistent median values as well, so I wasn't sure how it would calibrate out. Turns out, pretty well!



Thanks Bart :-)



Thanks Rick! I could stretch it some more, but preferred the darker look on this one. That may well change given some time away from it as is often the case. Might have looked at it too much.

I'll probably put some more time into this tonight and tomorrow night and then might call it done. Bad timing now to start a new broadband target given the moon phase, but dark enough for the next two nights that it'd be a waste to use it on a NB or bright target.

[LewisM]

Now, about that dust donut down the bottom.... :P

Nice job! I think it's collimated :)

[gregbradley]

Lovely. Great work.
It looks a lot like the Sombrero.
Greg.

[RobC]

Great image Lee. Good to see you are up and running again.

Cheers

Rob

[atalas]

Nice object choice Lee....good work:thumbsup:

[Atmos]

Looking really good Lee, good to see you getting back into the game with your new setup :)

[cometcatcher]

I just started imaging this now too. Holy cow there's a difference in field of view with the IMX178 and APS-C from my DSLR! You know you've got a galaxy killer here. Be good for small PN's too. I want one now. :)

[billdan]

That's gorgeous Lee, love the rich colours and lots of detail in the galaxies.

[codemonkey]

I see what you did there :p

Thanks! To be honest I never really resolved my optical issues. Pretty sure it's not collimation though. I just bought a tiny sensor so I don't see the nasty anymore :p



Thanks Greg!



Thanks Rob; me too!



Thanks Louie!



Yeah I'm very glad to be back at it again. Tonight's seeing looks much better too, just pulled some L subs down to 1.6"... but of course now the fog is rolling in.



haha yeah, it's not a big galaxy. With the dSLR you'd also easily fit NGC 5101 in there.

I'm mostly interested in galaxies, so selected this sensor because of it's sensitivity and small pixels.



Thanks Bill! I was pretty disappointed in the sharpness of the subs to be honest. The first night I don't think I got a sub below 2.7" -- I'm used to seeing 1.8"... can't have great seeing every night though I guess. Still, I'm reasonably happy with how it's turned out so far.

[codemonkey]

Now up to 15.4hrs, my longest integration to date. Also brightened it up a bit when I reprocessed it. Not sure I'm happy with the reprocess, might revert back to a darker, more contrasty look but I'll let it sit for a while.

Seeing finally got good on the past couple of nights. The first night I think the best I did was about 2.7", but last night I got the sharpest single L frame I've ever seen, coming in at 1.4" If only the fog had stayed away...

[strongmanmike]

An excellent image of this galaxy Lee, nice job indeed :thumbsup:

Mike

[codemonkey]

Thanks Mike!

[Paul Haese]

Nice image Lee, great colour and detail is nice too. I found this galaxy pairing with 5101 to be a tough image to process and I will need to revisit it again sometime. I think you have done a great job on this image though.

[Camelopardalis]

That’s a beauty, Lee :thumbsup: love the details and all the faint little fuzzies scattered around!

[codemonkey]

Thanks very much Paul and Dunk! :-)

I think I might get some more data on this field afterall, should the weather clear up when the moon's in a more agreeable phase... going to do a little experiment with regard to how much time I should spend on L vs RGB.

[codemonkey]

A new version, this time with 19.8hrs of data. Full res (https://www.astrobin.com/347263/) on Astrobin still.

Still having some weird issues with colour profiles. Looks great in PixInsight no matter what... saving it as a jpeg after converting to either Adobe RGB or sRGB makes it look very noisy outside of PixInsight. Insight PixInsight it's still great. Converting it to my monitor's profile before exporting means it looks great everywhere... but only on my monitor of course. Can't win!

I was really hoping to break into 20hrs+ but my LiteCrawler has packed it in again, so that's going to have to go back to the US. Looks like Ron's going to replace the focuser this time instead of repair it. Of course, this coincides with a week of clear nights.

[Ryderscope]

I think that is a charming collection of colourful galaxies there Lee. Very nice indeed :)

[Andy01]

Great image, well presented and processed, top job! :thumbsup: