Sculptor Galaxy NGC 253

[Sunfish]

10 four minute DSLR portrait mode shots at 400 iso f5.9 refractor last night.

A lot of cloud which robs some colour and detail etc. A good break from LRGB and an easy target.

[casstony]

It's an easy target in one sense but I struggle to get satisfying detail on ngc253. I don't know if it needs a bigger aperture or just superior processing skills?

[Sunfish]

In my case perhaps many more and some longer shots could add some detail. Ha Oiii also.

[raymo]

Ray, There doesn't seem to be a lot of detail or colour for the amount of
exposure time. What size is your refractor?

Tony, here is one of my early attempts at 253 many years ago. There is plenty
of detail to be had. Perhaps my acquisition details will help you understand why you struggle for detail. This image is severely black clipped, being one of my early tries. 8" f/5 Newt 20x 30 secs unguided @ISO 1600. Stacking and processing carried out in DSS. Best viewed at 75% screen.
raymo

[Sunfish]

Al lot of colour in your image Raymo.

The scope is an FS102

I think my problem was the high cloud. The cloud was enough to interrupt the guiding often and I could see the first view in the camera screen looked pretty yellow so I am surprised I got anything usable. I will try the target again tonight and see if I can do better.

Any suggestions would be good of course.

[casstony]

Maybe I'm just expecting too much; the side-on aspect of the galaxy makes it harder to get detail I guess.

[Sunfish]

Plenty of colour there Tony. I am not sure how you increase detail other than increase number of exposures or more aperture with some Narrowband.

[Sunfish]

Here is a version of Sculptor Galaxy in RHaGB . Same f5.9 scope with 4x4m of each filter at 139gain. Not a lot more detail for similar time but more colour and tighter stars. Guiding going a bit daft but that is another discussion.

A strange sanded background sky occurs in some of these HARGB images but I am not sure what the cause is. Better darks required perhaps.