NGC 253 The Silver Dollar Galaxy

[strongmanmike]

This is a perenial favourite and like many others, I have also hit it a few times over the years too :) Of course, not under the much-improved conditions of my new observatory (see comparison with my last effort below) :D

Conditions in Spring are often windy in this region and this year has been no exception and commensurate with this, the seeing hasn't been the usual sharpness previously enjoyed at Eagleview and for the two nights of this capture, the average FWHM, as measured by MaximDL, of most subs hovered around 2.1" with a few up at 2.4" and several at 2.0" unfortunately the best Lum subs only had an average FWHM of 2.0" :mad2:..this is however still as good or better than the handful of the very best nights I experienced over eight years at my previous observatory!..so while I was a little dissapointed, I'll take it :thumbsup:

Never the less, some decent details have been revealed and I was particularly happy with the detail in the back ground galaxies too. One of the challenges in a good image of NGC 253, is to be able to capture and reveal the very faint outer halo that envelopes the galaxy and given the dark skies over my observatory I was able to acheive this and show it in a natural colour image!...happy with this....sigh, juuuust wish it had been one of the several FWHM nights of 1.5" I've had and the telescope wasn't buffeted by wind gusts :mad2: ...oh well, can't win'em all... :rolleyes:

OK hope you like it and as usual, all images are best viewed on a proper computer monitor in a dimly lit room :thumbsup:

NGC 253 Close up viewed on Pbase (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173990184/original)

NGC 253 Close up viewed on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/53198065531/in/dateposted/)

Faint outer stellar halo (https://pbase.com/image/173991277/original)

Lastly...and even without Eagleview's best conditions, compare to my last shot of this galaxy (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173993020/original) from my previous observatory at Wallaroo in 2018, all be it a quickie at low altitude...all the same imaging gear...but no comparison!

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
that's great and you've pulled out far more detail than the old 2018 picture.


cheers
Allan

[matlud]

Beautiful Mike! A really great image with great detail, a nice natural palette and plenty of faint background fuzzies across the field. Must be so pleasing to see these kind of results rolling in from the new obs. CS, Mat

[TR]

Nice work Mike. The Ha looks nice :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

That turned out very well despite the windy conditions which can be a challenge.

Gre.

[TrevorW]

Nice colours great detail :)

[strongmanmike]

Yeah it's hard to believe they were both taken with the same scope, camera, control and processing software :shrug:



Thanks a lot Mat, yes, it is, I'm definitely happy Eagleview has proved to be a good astro site :prey:



The wind was just annoying, once the dome was pointing into the wind (North), it softened quite a few subs :doh: Actually the Sirrius dome was better in this regard where I was able to close the lower shutter and this saved me a few times out at Wallaroo and allowed imaging is stiff winds, this cannot be done with the Scope domes.



Thanks Trev :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Terry

Mike

[Startrek]

Mike,
Conditions may not have been ideal but this image is excellent
Fine detail , resolution and colour is tremendous
Well done !!
Isn’t it a wonderful Galaxy to image , I’ve racked up plenty of hours both with OSC and Mono over the past few months

Best

Martin

[Ryderscope]

Fantastic and definitely worth taking a peek at the old and the new. This is an excellent rendition of this perennial favourite :thumbsup:

[markas]

Great detail, Mike:thumbsup::thumbsup: - in spite of the less than ideal seeing. Interesting contrast to the previous visit!
Mark

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys :thumbsup:...yes, given the frequency of sub 2" seeing up at Eagleview has been surprisingly high, I have come to expect it all the time now :rolleyes: guess I've gotten greedy...and perhaps a little unrealistic, seems my expectations have gone up :question: Of course, I still have plenty of opportunity to enhance this effort over the next couple of months, should I find the seeing back at 1.5" one night ;)...of course, I may have moved on by then too, I may wish to use any good nights to image something small too..? :question: I have a few targets in mind....

Mike

[Andy01]

Looks great Mike - you must be delighted with your new digs & obsy! :)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Andy, yeah, pretty happy, seeing wise even my ordinary nights at Eagleview are better than my best nights were at Wallaroo and the darkness and transparency are much greater :)

Mike

[RobF]

Amazing detail Mike. Always fun when you're able to trump past efforts with latest gear - and you've had the ultimate imaging makeover with the site.

Sounds like dome not really an optional extra in semi-alpine setting. Did you have much trouble with snow affecting access in winter?

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rob :thumbsup: it's all the same imaging gear and software, just a new site :D

The wind is an issue all around the ACT this time of year, when I was out at Wallaroo, imaging before I had a dome (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/147003522/original), many nights were affected by stiff breezes and winds this time of year, softened and even ruined many an image sadly...

Mike