Thanks guys, I was just as suprised, Dennis....
5 secs is about all I can get away with when I'm near the celestial
equator and the PE is the most noticeable...The homemade GEM
mount has it's good nights and bad nights.
I tried a few 10sec and 15 sec tests and out pop the lanes including
structure on the live view of M83.
BUT the live histo is tweaked to the max...the RAW fIT does not save
this setting.
The results came after much hand sorting of images and a severe
stretch of the stack.
I think a lot has to do with the pristine mirror on the 12...it's only about
6 months old and I think I won the lottery with this mirror because I've
heard you get good and bad with GSOs.
Also put it down to the outright sensitivity and dynamic range of the
mono CCD in the DSI II.
Certainly a breath of fresh air compared to my previous best M104s and
M83s with webcams and a homemade 8" F7...
I think I even picked up the tiny face on spiral down the right corner
in the M104 shot.
My webcam attempts:
See here: M104 and M83
http://mywebsite.bigpond.com/astrost...4_14apr_05.jpg
http://mywebsite.bigpond.com/astrost...2005_final.jpg