NGC 253 and NGC 7293

[Grahame]

Gday All,

Took my gear and went deep into the WA interior for a night with these as the result... Im almost going to give up imaging from home after seeing what comes out when you are in true dark skys (Sky Quality Meter was reading 21.7!)

NGC 253 was 2x 10min L, 2x 5min RGB Link here for large version (http://astro-photo.net/jpg/NGC-253_color_IIS_Large.jpg)
NGC 7293 was 7x 10min L, 7x 5min RGB Link here for large version (http://astro-photo.net/jpg/NGC-7293-color_IIS_Large.jpg)

Used the usual equipment:
DeepSkyInstruments RC10C
Losmandy G-11
QHY-9
SX-Lodestar (OAG)


Grahame.

[h0ughy]

fantastic grahame - love the helix but i think there is a hot pixel in the other shot. both brilliant shots. i love the small galaxy in the helix

[Grahame]

David, yep - The lack of many exposures for the NGC253 shot meant I had to use the Mean combine method - you can see the result with those pixels :(

I will try another stack method plus some basic noise removal in CCDstack on that one again soon.

[h0ughy]

mate i am green with envy with the image anyway

[Grahame]

Cheers :) I love all the little background galaxy's that start coming out in such dark skys.... if only I had a few more nights out there!

[renormalised]

Went out into deepest, darkest WA. Better watch out for the wild geo's and the rabid, frothy mouthed drillers. Don't want to get bitten by either of them!!!:):P

Nice piccies, though:)

[DavidU]

Superb set of images Grahame. A few more subs of that quality would make incredible images.

[marc4darkskies]

Two lovely images there Grahame! Crisp detail, nice colour and pinpoint stars! I'd get more data though - especially if you've made the trip into the wilds of WA!

I hadn't nocticed you were a DSI owner before. I have my eye on them for my new scope next year. Tell me, they look very good on paper in terms of spot size to the edge of the field, did you find that it lived up to the promise? Did it work as advertised out of the box (notwithstanding perhaps some collimation)?

Cheers, Marcus

[Paul Haese]

Dark skies make all the difference for sure. The image scale on both images is pretty nice. More data and you will have a ripper pair of images.

[John Hothersall]

Those are great results, would like a go at 253 myself, Helix colours just right.

John.

[Peter Ward]

Very nice indeed.

I've no meaningful comments other than: get more data! ...as the gear you have is clearly performing :thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Very nice Graham. All seems to be working well.

[gregbradley]

Great images Graham.

You can clean up the hot pixel with Photoshop healing tool if you have Photoshop. Its not unusual to have a few coloured dots here and there in an image.

Greg.

[wysiwyg]

Great looking shots Graham, a few touch ups and they will certainly pop.
Well done!

[Grahame]

Thanks all, another trip is in the works - but as it is a 1500km trip(one way!) it will take time to come together.

Yes this scope worked as it should out of the box - quick learning curve with the collimation ect but if you love doing this kinda stuff its all fun anyway.
As for spot sizes ect, the largest chip i have is the qhy-9 and as the corrected imaging circle is =>52mm I wont be pushing this scope just yet. From what i have observed with this ccd is DSI have delivered exactly what they quoted me.

I am glad I put up with the rather long wait for it (6 months) as the optics in here are done by star optics, they are second to none in this price range.

Grahame.

[Ross G]

Hi Grahame,

Two great photos.

Amazing quality and colour.


Thanks.


Ross.

[RobF]

253 if my fav. You rarely see it processed so smoothly and subtly - colours are usually pushed to billy-o.....!
Nice one :thumbsup: