M104 Trial shots

[DavidH]

Hello Folks,

A pic of Sombrero Galaxy gathered over the last two nights here in Mackay. Meade 200mm f10 SCT with 350D unmodded. Guided with Toucam and K3ccd thru ED80. 6x5 min exposures, ICNR for dark frames, and flat frames processed in Images Plus. The first deep sky shot I have produced that I am somewhat happy with. Could have done with more exposure, I think. Comments and criticism appreciated, it has been and continues to be, a steep learning curve for me.

Thanks,
David.

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

Very nice Sombrero David

[theodog (Jeff)]

Nice one David.
More exposures -all in good time.
I bet the bug has bitten hard now.
Well done.

[winensky]

Nice one. Colours starting to come through too. I am in no posistion to be critical but is it possible there is a little focusing issue in on of the colours?

[Matty P (Matt)]

Hats off to you (supposed to be funny).

A great capture indeed. Well done. As a suggestion you should apply a bit more post processing to bring out more of the Galaxy.

I am a bit curious if you used a focal reducer for this image?

The reason I ask is because you image looks very similar to mine in image scale and I used a f/6.3 focal reducer.

[iceman (Mike)]

Well done David, a great start.

More exposures will help a great deal, and don't forget to start taking flat frames! The data can be stretched much harder when you take flats.

[Ric]

A good start David, your image is very sharp and there is some nice detail starting to come out in the Sombrero.

Cheers

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by DavidH

Hello Folks,

A pic of Sombrero Galaxy gathered over the last two nights here in Mackay.
6x5 min exposures, ICNR for dark frames, and flat frames processed in Images Plus. The first deep sky shot I have produced that I am somewhat happy with. Could have done with more exposure, I think. Comments and criticism appreciated, it has been and continues to be, a steep learning curve for me.

Thanks,
David.

David you've done very well indeed for 30 min exp on M104.
As you say more exposure would be good but I know it's difficult when you are also using ICNR because it doubles your 'exposure' time.

Great start.

[DavidH]

Originally Posted by Matty P

I am a bit curious if you used a focal reducer for this image?

The reason I ask is because you image looks very similar to mine in image scale and I used a f/6.3 focal reducer.

Hmm.. Is your shot a crop of the original image? My post shows the full frame. Did not use a focal reducer. Can't explain the similarity any other way, unless your camera has a different sized CCD.

Regards,
David.

[DavidH]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement.

I actually did use some flats Mike, but there appeard to me to be very little data to stretch in the original image. Tried to take a couple of subs at 10 min exposures, but balance or flexure issues caused the stars to go out of round, so discarded them.

As you say RB, it becomes a bit tedious waiting for the camera to do its thing with ICNR ... particularly when your brain is saying ...

Thanks and Regards,
David.

[Phil]

Hi David Great shot mate well done.
Phil