Finally got some clear skies and managed to get some subs on the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83). The image comprises of 40 x 50 second subs taken at ISO1600 and stacked with DSS and levels adjusted in Photoshop.
That's really good Gus. Care to share the equipment and capture details with us? I hope to image M83 tomorrow night. The last 2 nights have been superb here but alas I can't think of setting up on a week night. I do hope the weather holds out for one more cracker of a night!
My little refractor has a wide FOV but this time I intend to try M83 sans the flattener / reducer I normally have in the image train.
I used a Celestron C8 SCT on a AVX Goto Equatorial mount with no guiding except for the tracking provided by the mount.
Photos were taken using a Canon 60D mount via prime focus with a F/6.3 focal reducer to give me a slightly wider and flatter field of view.
I used 'Astro Photography Tool' to capture the 40 light frames and 5 dark frames at 50 second exposure times at ISO1600.
I then stacked the subs using DeepSkyStaker and then processed the final image in Photoshop.
I hope the weather holds up too. I wanted to do some more imaging tonight but the wind picked up and ended my chances of getting usable subs.
I have tried to be good, but alas, after the last 2 crystal clear nights, the weekend weather will be absolute rubbish and therefore will be no imaging for me.
Oh well if the clouds are here, at least they may be leaving clear skies for someone else in other locations.
