NGC1566 - Seyfert Galaxy in Dorado - 6th Feb 2013

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi All,

Unheard of from me in 2013, I was imaging last night on an EVEN day of the month???? I know...right?

I COMPLETELY recollimated the scope the other day as I wasnt happy with eggy stars I was getting and then having to process out. Took out the scope and had it cooling by 8:30pm.

Had a squiz at Lemmon, but it was sludged out by light pollution south of me, took some subs of the Eight Burst Nebula (still processing this one) and then swung the scope around to NGC1566 for a bit.

So, here it is, NGC1566, 50 Million light years away, the second brightest Seyfert galaxy in the sky (after NGC1068) and a lovely face on spiral with some nice wispy arms. I need some more data to really make these pop. Bring on IISAC 2013!

Image details:

Target: NGC1566
Constellation: Dorado
Acquired: 6th Feb 2013
Camera: Atik 314L+ OSC CCD
Scope: Skywatcher BD200N Reflector
Mount: HEQ5Pro
Guide: PHD guiding using EQmod and DBK21AU618 on Orion 50mm guidescope
Total Time: 55 mins
CCD Temp: -5 degrees Celsius
Exposures: 11 x 300 sec Lights
Darks/Bias/Flats: 20 x darks, 10 x bias.
Capture Program: Artemis Capture
Processing: DSS, Startools, Photoshop CS3

Uncompressed Image : Link (5.3Mb PNG file)

Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Cheers

Chris

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Very nice, Chris!

[LewisM]

NOICE. Real NOICE! Onya mate

[Deeno]

Looks great!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Larryp

Very nice, Chris!

Thanks Laurie!

Originally Posted by LewisM

NOICE. Real NOICE! Onya mate

Cheers Lewis, starting to get the hang of this caper

Originally Posted by Deeno

Looks great!

Thanks Deeno Glad you liked it.

Cheers

Chris

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice work, Chris, looks like you've captured some very faint stuff!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Cheers Rick.

There is more there, but I am treading the line between sky glow noise and getting those faint arms out.

More data from darker skies is needed, but it's good to know how nice this galaxy is, even without the CLS filter (I took it off as the sky was quite dark) and I was shooting WSW over Blacktown's light sphere.

Cheers

Chris

[Ross G]

Great looking galaxy photo Chris.

Did the collimation fix the eggy stars?

Ross.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Thanks Ross,

Yes, I think it did, I was getting eggs all across the board and it wasnt the guiding, so I think bringing the primary up a bit and recentering the secondary did the trick. I still have a warped vane causing some blurry diffraction spikes, but I may leave it for now, gives it a homely touch....

Cheers

Chris

[RobF (Rob)]

Beautiful shot Chris, love the colours.

Still think the humble F5 8" Newt is one of the most underestimated bang for buck scopes for this sort of astrophotography. People always say more data would be nice, but the reality is you have great resolution and luminosity from a non-dark-sky site, shot for a very reasonable imaging time for an amateur with a day job

Thanks for sharing.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by RobF

Beautiful shot Chris, love the colours.

Still think the humble F5 8" Newt is one of the most underestimated bang for buck scopes for this sort of astrophotography. People always say more data would be nice, but the reality is you have great resolution and luminosity from a non-dark-sky site, shot for a very reasonable imaging time for an amateur with a day job

Thanks for sharing.

Wow, thanks Rob, that's a very nice, succinct way of putting that.

Humbling.

Cheers

Chris

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's a very nice field Chris. Well processed with beautiful colors. Nice work.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Great image Chris; you've captured the spiral arms and some detail nicely!

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

That's a very nice field Chris. Well processed with beautiful colors. Nice work.

Thanks Marc, I am loving the way the Atik sensor combined with the 1000mm FL of the 8" newt gets me in nice and close. Especially for galaxies, I am adding MUCH more nice images quicker than before when I was using the DSLR. Its a ripper of a little camera.

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Great image Chris; you've captured the spiral arms and some detail nicely!

Thank you David, I have hopefully figured out the secret to the output stack processing in DSS 3.3.47 beta, so I have to do very little once its in PS or Startools to stretch it out, which helps me keep the colours nice and the light pollution low.

I appreciate the compliments,

Cheers

Chris

[gregbradley]

Nice image Chris. Its a pretty galaxy.

Greg.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Cheers Greg,

Yes, one reason I went for it, I looked up CalSky and saw its B&W structure there, so thought it might come out well in the camera.

Thanks


Chris