M82 in HaRGB

[Paramount]

Hi all
I have finally managed to get out and do some imaging for the first time since mid February. It was also a chance to try out the H9 camera and 7 position FLI filter wheel which I got over a month ago. The image is of M82 using HaRGB with 20x5 minutes for Ha and 20x2 minutes each for RGB all unguided. Although the sky was clear I had to contend with a half moon all night as well as my neighbours bedroom light and the seeing conditions were fairly bad. Anyway, enough of the excuses, I am just glad to be able to do some imaging again. Thanks for looking, further details on equipment used is on my site http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk (http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk/)
Best wishes
Gordon

[jase]

Not a bad rendition of M82 Gordon. Having imaged this myself, its a tricky galaxy to nail. The dynamic range is deceiving I found. I'm wondering if longer subs is the answer here - certainly for the Ha data anyway. Is your intention to start guiding soon or you happy with protrack? Which scope did you take this with?

Cheers

[Paramount]

Hi Jase
This was taken with the Takahashi BRC-250. I will be doing autoguiding at some point as well as flats (which I've still not tried), it is a question of finding the time to get it all sorted out. Currently I still use the Paramount as it came out of the box so no PEC or protrack has been used, it is down to getting an accurate polar alignment. I did think that the 5 minute subs of Ha may be a little short but as the scope is f5 I thought I'd be able to get away with it. Probably try for longer next time round
Best wihes
Gordon

[Paramount]

Hi
When I had a look at this image on a different computer and monitor there was a gradient that was evident that I couldn't see on mine so I have tweaked the image a bit to remove most of the gradient and also done some mild sharpening and small adjustments of the curves to extract a little more detail. Thanks for looking again.
Best wishes
Gordon

[atalas]

Gordon,nice work .