NGC5236-first draft

[allan gould]

I tried someing new with my QSI583wsg and M83. The attached photo is a quick draft of the data accumulated as I have another 2 hours of Luminance and 60 min of RGB yet to add to this shot. It was a test to see if I could use my 10" SCT with an f6.3 reducer and get round stars to the corner of the frame. It didn't help that meade have the wrong information on their website about the optimal distance between the reducer and CCD chip. They state 45mm whereas its actually 87mm. Thanks to Peter_4059 who made me a beautiful little 2" to T7 adapter I can now do it.
I use a combination of colour from my QHY8 and Luminace from the QSI and Registar to put together a first draft of this shot to see if it can be done. I was happy with the final outcome but really tired after last nights effort.
I will eventually post the final shot when I combine all the data and learn all the new techniques in Photoshop to put it together properly. Its a new minefield to trip through. There is a heap more detail that I can extract in the dust lane that I have yet do thanks to the detail the QSI and its small pixels can capture.
Comments welcome.

[Bolts_Tweed]

Gee - you've got to be happy with that Alan. Core is good - detail in arms - round stars and only half the data - COngratulations

Mark Bolton

[Lester]

That's a very nice image Allan. All the best.

[peter_4059]

Great shot Allan. I bet you are happy with that. Can't wait to see the finished version

[gregbradley]

Nice image from an SCT. That's great, you must be happy.

A tad too much green in it looking from my monitor (minor amount).
Blue areas should be more bluish. You could pump up the Ha areas in the arms with the sponge tool set to saturate and 5% and rub over them.

Also a bit of Ha is worth shooting for M83 as it will tart up the yellow core and the red Ha areas in the spiral arms.

Greg.

[allan gould]

Mark, Lester, Peter and Greg,
Thanks for all the kind comments and Greg thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. I will try to get some Ha on Monday night which looks to be the next clear night for me here. Ill also try the sponge-bob-squarepants method you suggested (Hadn't heard of it before but Ill give it a go).
Must admit that Im really happy with what the SCT can do with this camera, especially as the two double stars at the 4 o'clock position near very edge of M83, are cleanly split and resolved.