M104 - Sombrero Galaxy

[Matty P]

I just finished processing these images that I captured last night after imaging Eta Carinae.

All Taken with my Celestron 8SE SCT with f/6.3 focal reducer and Canon 450D at ISO 1600. Stacked in DSS and processed in PS CS3.

M104 = 12 x 30 second subs

Total exposure = 6 minutes

Thanks for looking. :thumbsup:

[theodog]

Nice one Matty.:)
Just imaging that myself.:D
Not quite the wide field 'though.
60sec Lum med filter
midway through a 5 min

[Alchemy]

good for short subs, a little bit longer might bring a bit more detail out perhaps.... everyone tries to get a hint of the internal dust lanes...... longer might do it .

[Matty P]

Thanks guys,

Jeff, great looking Sombrero you got there. Looking forward to the final result.

Alchemy, I would love to capture longer subs but because I am using a Alt-Az mount I don't think it will work.

BTW I think my Sombrero is upside down. :confuse3:

[Ric]

Nice capture Matty, the cental dust lane is showing up quite nicely.

Cheers

[Matty P]

Thanks Ric,

I would of liked to stacked a lot more subs to bring out the central dust lane but for some weird reason out of about 40+ subs only 12 were suitable for stacking.

[Ric]

Hi Matty, I'm curious as to what was the reason for the others not being suitable for stacking.

Cheers

[Matty P]

Hi Ric,

The ones that were not suitable for stacking had severe star trails due to bad tracking. :doh:

[Ric]

No worries Matty, I'll bet your champing at the bit to get that EQ6.:)

I suppose that will open up a new set of challenges though.:P

Cheers

[Matty P]

I'm just looking forward to the day when my images will have round stars. :lol:

For now, I'm quite happy with elongated stars. :screwy:

[winensky]

Good clean image. I understand the tracking issues. I am running at about 50% for 1 min and 30% for 90s. suitable subs. I think yours is an Alt-Az mount but if its EQ, they can sometimes be too well balanced and need a bit of loading to maintain a steady image.

[edwardsdj]

Hi Matty,

I was observing M104 visually last night. Your image captures the visual apperance from the suburbs of Brisbane very nicely.

I love images that remind me of the view through the eyepiece :)

Have fun,
Doug

[Matty P]

Thanks Doug,

Before taking this image I was observing M104 visually for a while. Even under a full moon M104 was clearly visble. It is always great when your image captures what you would see through an EP.

When I get an EQ mount. I hope to image M104 without the f/6.3 focal reducer for a more in your face view.

:thumbsup: