This was my April /May project, galaxy NGC 3981 in Crater.
Taken leisurely, over seven cool-mild Autumn nights (not like today! see attached
), conditions were generally pretty good, with two of the seven nights providing excellent seeing
with the first night on 2 April, returning a very steady
FWHM of 1.4"-1.6" for most of the night, so I used the best 50% (FWHM 1.4"-1.8")
of the 17+hrs of 10min Lum sub frames collected, to best reveal the details in the brighter areas and the whole lot for the rest (FWHM under 2.1") and fainter extensions.
I also collected 3hrs of Ha to help bring out the HII regions.
I only had to chuck about a half dozen or so sub frames, from the seven nights and all up it was a 27.5hr exposure
The full res version and a description of the galaxy and acquisition details can be found at these platforms, depending on your preference:
AstroBin
PBase
Flickr
And...go
HERE for a surf around the full frame
Hope you like it
Mike