Ngc4945 : Now with added colour and a Sidonio

[allan gould]

Decided that although the moon was going to be shining brightly I would have enough time to capture some luminance (15x10min) and RGB (5x5 min at 2x2 binning) before it all went to pieces. I didn't manage to capture as much colour data as I wished due to the moon rising high in the sky and so I kept them short. I struggled with the colour balance etc due to so little data but I will attempt to aquire some more.
Taken with 10" SCT at fl 2500mm with QSI583wsg. Stacked in DSS and processed with Registar and PS3.
Comments welcomed.

Ive added the Sidonio'ed image to this thread and it appears at the top of page 2, but Ive also added it below for comparison

[gregbradley]

That's very good considering you shot it in a full moon which is nearly impossible.

Greg.

[Lester]

Very nice image Allan, showing a large amount of internal structure. Thanks for the view,

[Saturn%5]

Very Nice.

[[1ponders]]

I agree with Greg, Allan. You've done a great job to get what you have with the moon the way it is. Atm I think its making up for the nights it couldn't be seen through the cloud. Extraordinarily bright!

Is it an ACF scope you're using Allan? It seems to me that while the stars are quite tight in the center of the image the stars towards the outer edge of the fov (especially the brighter ones) are all flaring towards the outer edge of the frame.

[allan gould]

Thanks Greg,
I managed to get most of the luminance done while the moon was down but then did a meridian shift and attempted the colour but by that time the moon was up and running very bright.

Thanks for that Lester, I was lucky to get what I did as this morning it's raining. Just have to use the observatory when the opportunity arises.

[allan gould]

Thanks Tas


Paul
Your right, the stars are slightly elongated and I think it comes from the last set of Luminance frames as the mount was approaching the meridian flip.. The initial frames were perfect in star characteristics. I may have to cull some of the frames and do a ...........Sidonio!
Also the colour is not quite right. But I was lucky to get a clear night so I was happy with that.
The scope is an old bog standard SCT from 1995, but I love the optics as there is very little focus shift and if I went out tonight it would still be in perfect focus.
Allan

[renormalised]

Nice work Allan. Pity the Moon was up to make life difficult. Really needs that New Moon time to get good data.

[multiweb]

That's a real sharp shot Allan considering Moon glow. Not bad at all. That's one for dark skies. :thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Moon, schmoon. If it's clear I'll go out and image. Thanks for the comments though.


I think when I go to Astrofest that I'll do a couple of these galaxies real justice, but I'm going to reserve one free night just to observe without the frustrations of imaging. It seems that you can beat somewhat the light pollution if you image at long enough focal lengths but that only goes for the bright stuff. If it's faint, forget it.

[Ross G]

A great shot Allan.

I love all the detail in the galaxy.


Thanks.


Ross.

[Hagar]

Nice one Allan. Considering the moon this is a ripper.

By the way. Dome control problems look to be fixed by running everything off a true RS232 Card in my PC. 4 nights running now without a drop out.

[allan gould]

Thanks Ross for the nice comments. Glad you liked.


Thanks Doug will try harder next time, I want that elephant stamp the good boys get.
As for the dome I'm about to redirect an old laptop with a serial port to over come this dome issue either that or buy a PCMCIA card for rs232 and see I'd that works any better. It's not too bad but still getting the occasional dropout.

[strongmanmike]

Yay 4945 season :thumbsup:

Nice early one Big Al

Mike

[iceman]

Nice image! The colours look a little but off, but the detail is great!

[allan gould]

Thanks Mike its just good to get outside and do some imaging



I managed the luminance shots before the moon came up but the colour was shot by a full moon. Ill get that with the QHY8 ASAP.

[Paul Haese]

More data mate and that is going to be a fine image. Your guiding is near perfect. There is heaps of sharp detail throughout the galaxy. Look forward to seeing it with more data.

[allan gould]

As my wife said "maybe tonight". :D :shrug:
That is if the clouds go away.

[h0ughy]

one could be so lucky for the clouds to go away. like the scale and details but not the colours. REPRO?

[TrevorW]

Nice one Al

[allan gould]

David and Trevor
You asked for it!!!! Here is a repro/Sidonio of NGC 4945 as I managed to get everything working, dodging clouds and the moon to add 2.5 hr of colour from the QHY8 to my previous image. I also removed some luminance shots when the mount was near the meridian to improve the star roundness after stacking.
Hope you like. :confused2:
Allan

[Bassnut]

The pic is so buried in artifacts and noise from a 90kb thumb nail its hard to tell whats detail and what isnt. I ..........think it looks good.

[gregbradley]

That looks good Allan. Is there any colour data left in the stars though that you can bring out?

Greg.