M104 Sombrero Galaxy with 2600MC

[Startrek]

Finally some cold clear moonless nights this week and into next week so captured a few galaxies including M104 Sombrero which is one of my favourites

South Coast NSW Bortle 3
Seeing good
NexDome Obs
8” f5 GSO newt
Skywatcher EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC set to Ascom highest dynamic range Gain 0 , cooled to -15C
45 x 3 minute dithered guided subs
Goto and Nav EQMOD and Stellarium
Framed focused and captured with APT
PHD2 Multistar Guiding at 0.70 arc sec total
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7

Original frame
Cropped frame
Super crop frame to show closer detail

Also first time using my own custom made Dome rotation control system which worked well ( only required 1 intervention to re align over 3 hours )

Comments welcome

Thanks

[cometcatcher]

Some nice detail you have there Martin.

[Hotpies]

WOW, this is amazing. That beautiful glow. Something about your photo of the Sombrero really speaks to me.
Thanks for sharing this one. Made my night :)

[multiweb]

That's really cool Martin. Very smooth. Lovely colours too. :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks to All
Appreciate all the comments
Really happy with this 2600MC camera , a joy to use
Cheers

[PKay]

Great work M

Your images have leapt light years with the new camera.

Well done :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Great pic but the background is set to 1/256 instead of say 22/256.
That means it's clipped in the blacks.


cheers
Allan

[Startrek]

Thanks for the comments
Without looking at numbers would it matter anyway to the final detail in the image ?
Startools is not supposed to clip your data ( refer to their website info )
It doesn’t use histograms, levels and curves like most other post processing software
I use the AutoDev for initial and final stretch which again is not supposed to clip your data

[Startrek]

Peter
Thanks mate
It was a great nights imaging

[alpal]

It won't affect the wonderful image of the galaxy
but it means the background is coal black and any
dim details in it are lost.

[Startrek]

Ah understand your comment now
There are numerous modules beyond the main gradient wipe in Startools which reduce or eliminate noise, glare , brightness and other annoying anomalies in your data but it will not affect the dynamic range and detail of your image. It can focus on your interstellar background Star field by averaging out or masking out the unwanted pixels between stars and giving your main object a dynamic boost without sacrificing detail
Modules like Contrast , HDR and Super Structure have this feature

[alpal]

I don't know your processing flow.

The processing flow I always used was different:
Stretching in NASA FITS Liberator -
saving as a tiff then processing in Photoshop
and sometimes with Fitswork4 as well.

In Photoshop you can go to curves,
control M -
and just click the mouse on a dark area and see the value you
get out of 256.
For one of your posted images it was only 1.
I find most images on this forum are around value 22 in the dark areas.
In fact it's very handy for any picture -
even daytime terrestrial pictures.
You can click on a bright area too and see that it's
2 to the power of 8 =256
in other words - over exposed - all intensity information is gone.


cheers
Allan

[astronobob]

That is a real nice 'hat' Martin, well done and accompanied with the distant faint fuzzies as well, nice detail in the dust lane considering the size of this squirt, none the less, looks grouse and I dont mind the very slight dark background, considering this galaxy sits out on its lonesome anyway, quite fitting in a good way :thumbsup: Well done !

[Startrek]

Bob
Thanks for your kind comments
I tend to darken my interstellar background a bit more than usual and reduce brightness of my stars in my Star field when imaging galaxies, I think it accentuates the Galaxy being so small and at the end of the day it’s the main focus of attention anyway.I don’t have the luxury of a 12” or 16” scope with 2m + focal lengths so my objects are quite small with respect to the frame size
Thanks again
Martin