Southern Pinwheel (M83) This Morning

[2020BC]

The seeing and transparency at my house last night were outstanding, and not even a hint of a breeze. Twinkling stars? I've forgotten what they are. Even the backyard searchlights on the neighbours' houses were off. The Milky Way absolutely glowed. Nice. It made up for my current situation where I've got nothing to help me get close to approximate focus. Right now I have to take lots of test shots using a Hartman mask and walk the pics indoors to the computer to confirm if I'm getting somewhere near focus. Tiresome, but it was well worth the effort last night. Got my second galaxy.

The pic below is an unguided stack of 42 x 30 second ASA1600 exposures. Noise Reduction was On and the mirror locked up. taken via the Canon 350D at prime focus of an LXD-75 SN-8. The little battery on the Canon lasted all night! I took over 150 shots. It was driving the TV, I was checking histograms, the works. Love this camera. The battery finally gave up at around 4:45 a.m. after over 7 hours of activity.

[h0ughy]

wow, thanks for the optic nerve stimulation, with the weather not being the best, this is a great cure! WHAT did you stack them in?

[2020BC]

Thanks hOughy. I stacked them in MaxDSLR and processed (histogram) in ImageReady and a gentle denoise in Noiseware. Cropped but not resized in ImageReady.

[asimov]

:eyepop: OMG! That's a great image!:)

Well DONE! :thumbsup:

[ving]

great stuff sir!!!! :D

[Itchy]

Hey,

Anyone notice that the southerners are getting all the clear skies? :poke: :confused: What gives?

Nice shot

[Octane]

Fantastic work!

I'll be a resident of Canberra in under two weeks time. I would love to go on a astrophotography expedition (night) with you some time. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[2020BC]

Thanks guys.

Hamuyan: If you come along to the Canberra Astronomical Society (CAS) I'll see you there. CAS meets every month. Click here (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/cas/society_diary.html) for the calendar. The next meeting is 16th March. After that its 20th April. CAS has regular Dark Sky Nights and has a choice of two dark sites.

[astroboy]

Well done Bill
I agree the 350D is a great camera , sadly mine up and died and has gone back to Canon so I'm using the modded 300D instead .
I found that Images Plus works well for focusing , but I'm still on the bottom of the learning curve with the processing.
Have you tried manual guiding for longer exposures.

Zane

[davidpretorius]

another rippa!

[tornado33]

Yes great pic, I cant wait to have a go at that object myself (if the weather ever allows it)
Astroboy? What happened to the 350D? did it just stop working altogether. Its a bummer to hear of one dying, I thought the Canons were all immortal :(
Scott

[robin]

I saw M83 properly under dark skies for the 1st time at Snake Valley & was stoked.Your pic is great.

[astroboy]

Re the 350D problem
The camera came up with error 99 every time I would try to shoot , tried everything ( remove battery , change card , phone dial-a-prayer ) and no joy , apparently not an uncommon problem .
Bit of a pain just got my 70-300 IS lens which has been great for wildlife shots , guess I could try it with the modded 300D and see how birds look in infrared:screwy: .

Zane