Markarians Chain

[casstony]

Galaxy cluster in Virgo. More time would be good for this one to bring out faint features. I was mainly concerned with trying different targets in the not-so-great conditions to see what I could get.
TS115, 15x4 min

[RyanJones]

Hi Tony,

Jeez you've been busy ! We've had some clear skies this week and you've certainly made the most of them. Well done :thumbsup:

[Sunfish]

All great images Tony. Encouraging use of DSLR. That answers the questions about exposure times for each shot of these faint objects .

I note the small sharp background stars and dark background. Is that partly a result of software background removal. ..?

[casstony]

Thanks guys. I recall that the last two winters had colder and clearer nights than average so here's hoping for some more.

The sharp stars are related to the short focal length (640mm) and the type of instrument (refractor).
I've attached an example of a background which was extracted from one of the images - the process helps to remove some light pollution and makes the background more even. This image is an approximation and looks a bit brighter than the actual background that was removed.

There's about 50x more stuff that can be done in both PS and Pixinsight by more experienced imagers; I've only dipped my toe in the water and I'm quite slack regards processing. I haven't even bothered with calibration frames so far.

BUT... I have had lots of fun and I find my setup super easy to use :)

[glend]

:thumbsup:Yep the reduced TS115 is a good choice for that galaxy field. Nice one.

[gb44]

The frame looks like a circular gradient tool.
Bit odd though - its off centre, and there's a broad blue brush stroke to the right mid centre.

GlennB

[casstony]

It's the auto background extraction in Pixinsight Glenn - I can't offer any insight into what it does, just downloaded the trial version and tried a couple of features.

The manual and auto background extraction seem to help some images significantly and do little on others.

[casstony]

Thanks Glen. I've just ordered another adapter from TS to allow the 3" 0.8 reducer to work properly with my TS72 as well - need a couple mm more infocus to set the proper distance between the camera and reducer.

[xelasnave]

Wow you have been busy this and all of them are good.
Alex

[casstony]

Thanks Alex, got the camera clicking away again tonight.

[Camelopardalis]

Indeed, another cracker Tony :thumbsup: