Hello everyone!!
Well it seems that every time I try to image a DSO I am beset with problems somewhere along the line. However, every now and then eveything comes together and works like a dream, and Saturday night was just one of those nights.
My target for the night was M83 and after adding a 1.25kg weight for when I image towards the east, my tracking was spot on (with some help from PHD!). My focus was good and my collimation was the best I've ever had, cross checked using both laser and Cheshire collimators.
For the first time ever I imaged for over 3 hours getting 3 hours and 10 minutes worth of data to play with - and didn't that make a difference! Using a QHY8L attached to an 8" f/6 Newtonian on a HEQ5 Pro mount I got 38 five minute subs. I used a Baader MPCC to compensate for coma and a Baader UHC-S filter to tame the light pollution.
Stacking was done in DSS with associated darks, flats and dark flats. Processing in StarTools and final tarting up in GIMP.
I'd say I'm happy with the result!
Cheers,
Mario