My first image of this Barred Spiral Galaxy using my 2600MC cooled OSC. I’ve imaged it prior using my old DSLR but obviously not with the same results.Discovered by James Dunlop in 1826 at Parramatta in Sydney it’s located approx 12 million light years away from us. It’s also referred to as The Golden Coin Galaxy which I think is maybe more appropriate given its shape and colour
South Coast NSW
Bortle 3 skies
No moon
NexDome Obs
8” f5 GSO newt
EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC set in Ascom at Highest Dynamic Range Gain 0 cooled to -15C
45 x 3 minute dithered guided subs
Goto and Nav EQMOD and Ascom Stellarium
Frame focus and capture APT
PHD2 Multistar guiding 0.80 arc sec total
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.7 OSC Linear Data Set
I’ve always found this one challenging due to the star field, nice to see the extended luminosity of the galaxy amongst the stars.
All the required elements present, detail in the dust lanes, some Ha regions, background galaxy’s, no blowouts in the core and crisp star spikes….
Hi All
Thanks for all your comments
It’s a demanding target to process but this image turned out ok
Resolution around the core and spirals was a bit flat but used deconvolution to sharpen things up a little bit
Bortle 3 skies and no moon helps a great deal too
Cheers
Martin
