Image of NGC 5247 - an underrated spiral

Gem (Grant) · #1 24-06-2012, 02:44 PM

Hi all,

Here is last night's attempt at NGC 5247. I am really surprised that there are barely any images of this galaxy around. If an imaging noob like me can have a crack, surely some bigger fish will give it more thought...

Scope: 9.25" SCT at f 6.3
Camera: Atik 320E
Guiding: 80mm refractor with QHY5 using PHD
Processing: AstroArt

67 x 3 min (suburban) images plus darks and bias... need to use white frames next time since there is some dust problems.

Any helpful hints welcome. I focused using a bah. mask, but it seems my corrector needs a clean on the inside...

whzzz28 (Nathan) · #2 24-06-2012, 06:07 PM

Nice image!
Stars are round as round can be. Image is a little noisy. You had cooling on your CCD? As you mentioned, flats would help the image a lot.

Your stars also seem to lack some color, or rather it looks like they may be overblown sighlty causing what color is there to hit the upper limits (go white).
Did you have to process this image particularly heavily?

With stars as round as that, you'd probably be fine to do 5min subs. Would bring out some more detail and require less processing.
Never the less, better than what i managed to achieve on my last outing!

Gem (Grant) · #3 25-06-2012, 07:13 AM

Thanks for the input. My wife does the processing, and I did think it was a little heavy. I will pass on the the feedback. Since I am in town, I usually use 3 min subs. But I will give 5 a try.

mojo (Terry) · #4 03-07-2012, 07:11 PM

Grant, you may be selling yourself short by referring to yourself as a "noob"!

I think it's fantastic. Well done.

blink138 (Pat) · #5 03-07-2012, 10:55 PM

hello grant thats a nice target and image
mate do you image just through the visual back and add the reducer to that, or do you have an aftermarket focuser that does not move the primary?
i am asking because when i put my reducer inside my moonlite and take images all four corners are darker than the middle
pat

Gem (Grant) · #6 04-07-2012, 07:23 AM

Add the focal reducer to the back in place of the visual back. No after market focuser. I use a bah - mask to focus.
As to the previous comment re: round stars, I should add that my wife does round them off in the processing. They would have a slight elongation otherwise.
It is a rather faint object, so it did get processed a bit too much I think - hence the noise.

Thanks for all the comments!