The Sombrero Galaxy

[DiscoDuck]

A mix of 14+ hours of L and 5 hours RGB from under light polluted Adelaide suburban skies and 2+ hours of L from a dark sky (though with poor seeing) I managed to get out under last weekend as lockdown restrictions/guidelines are easing :-)

Full resolution available on Astrobin for the crop (https://www.astrobin.com/full/kzmytm/B/)and full field.
(https://www.astrobin.com/full/kzmytm/0/)
I've always thought the starfield around M104 was fairly boring but in the full frame shot there's that nice coloured trio at the top right. At that scale, the galaxy is a bit lost maybe though.

And I was curious as to the apparent concentration of "stars" around the galaxy and wondering if they were globular clusters. Turns out a lot of them are - Rolf Olsen has done some dedicated work identifying them in one of his images here (https://www.universetoday.com/95801/astrophoto-incredible-deep-view-of-globular-clusters-swarming-the-sombrero-galaxy/?fbclid=IwAR2VpuKpCjMzWPXdTDxANGZk4 OwkipIlkvldzjtt1cbEdDt5pgYomGXi88s
)which is rather cool!

[DavidU]

:thumbsup:

[AnakChan]

8x of L over RGB! I love your crop, there's so much detail to the disc and looks 3D.

[Saturn488]

Nice and crisp, great shot!

[Placidus]

That is pin sharp.

[strongmanmike]

Nice Mexican hat Paul, M104 is bright enough to shoot a reasonable result even under light polluted skies :thumbsup: Those three stars used to be my last star hop to finding M104 visually...before GOTO :)

Mike

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Dave, Sean, Chrys, Mike n Trish and Mike.


Mike: yes, I chose it because I thought I might have a hope of an image while locked in suburbia! :( That said, though the core is incredibly bright, it took a lot of data to subdue the noise in the edges of the galaxy and in the halo.

[PeterSEllis]

Nice shot Paul, dealing with light pollution in Suburbia is no fun at all, but with persistence you can still get some good stuff.

Peter

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Peter. Yes, persistence is the word. At 60 seconds per exposure, that was over 1000 luminance subs :) PixInsight was groaning under the weight!

[Bart]

Nothing wrong there, Ducky old boy! Top job, great detail, lovely stars!

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Barty! :)

[marc4darkskies]

You should be very happy with that Paul! Colours and detail very good! :thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Thank you, Marcus.

[multiweb]

Looking good Paul. Nice one. :thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Marc.

[Ryderscope]

Excellent work Paul. A ‘top hat’ :thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Rodney. :D