NGC253 and NGC288

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

While galaxy NGC253 gets most of the fame, poor old 8th magnitude globular cluster NGC288 just a couple of degrees away is rarely acknowledged. So here they are together in one frame.

Details: 76 minutes of 2 minute subs at ISO 800 through an ED80 at f5.5, no filters, unmodified Pentax K-x all on an old EQ2 with single axis drive, air temp 23 degrees, processed in DSS and CS5.

The transparency tonight was good. I could actually see stars instead of haze.

There's some elongation at the top left corner. Something is a bit out of whack with this refractor by the looks.

[nebulosity. (Jo)]

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

Details: 76 minutes of 2 minute subs at ISO 800 through an ED80 at f5.5, no filters, unmodified Pentax K-x all on an old EQ2 with single axis drive, air temp 23 degrees, processed in DSS and CS5.

The transparency tonight was good. I could actually see stars instead of haze.

There's some elongation at the top left corner. Something is a bit out of whack with this refractor by the looks.

2min subs EQ2 single axis drive, now I like that unguided I guess?
23 degrees, not so much I got to around 18 here last night

Gee, mate you need to move down south a bit transparency was probably 9 out of 10 here last night

[nebulosity. (Jo)]

Oh yeah and your images is a beauty

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Very nice, Kevin!

[Jon (Jonathan)]

Really nice composition, Kevin. Having the cluster in the field gives 253 a sense of scale - it somehow looks more gigantic, even though the actual image scale is smaller.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

That's very nice, and the globular in the foreground put a great perspective on this. Well done.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Thanks Jo, Laurie, Jon and Rolf.

Jo these were manually guided by hand, the old fashion way. The hand controller is a single axis drive corrector. Unguided my EQ2 could can only go for about 15 seconds without needing correction. I use a Mizar 68mm / 600mm f/L guidescope with a home brew reticle eyepiece. I bolt the same setup to the HEQ5 pro.

This is how we used to do things in the bad old days of film. It's a habit I haven't been able to kick from some 30 years ago. One advantage of this back and neck pain effort is that 99% of my subs are usable with little waste. It does mean I miss sleep, but I sleep poorly anyway!

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice composition, Kevin!

[carlstronomy (Carl)]

Really nice image well worth the lack of sleep

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Thanks Rick and Carl.

Didn't lose any sleep over that one Carl, I shot it early, but my neck is bad today.

[DavidH]

Nice image Kevin. You manage to get the most out of your gear by sheer hard work. Guess that was the norm in the "bad old days of film". We newcomers don't know what we've missed

Regards,
David.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Thanks David. If there's one thing I don't miss it's film. I have hundreds of pics taken with the stuff though.