The water tank is only 2/3 full, but little or no rain predicted, just steamy cloud, so we thought we'd post what we had: 10 hours of NGC 300 in monochrome. (Trish said that since it was mono, I could do the colour balance on this one).
We're quite pleased with the sharpness of the myriad OB regions - lotsa dots - presumably not individual stars much as we'd like them to be - tracing out the spiral arms - and with the detailed shape and form in many edge-on spirals in the background.
Toward ten o'clock and about 80% of the way out there is an edge-on spiral with an almost implausible tidal tail hanging down*. Pleased to report that it is also seen in Greg Bradley's beautiful colour shot, and is therefore not an asteroid trail, but is sadly out of frame in Ray/Shiraz's stunning version.
Aspen CG16M at -30C on 20" PlaneWave CDK on MI-750 fork. Ten off 1hr subs. Field 36 min arc.
*(Have ye seen the Jack in the green, with his long tail hanging down?)
Looking good guys! Nice, tight stars. Are you guys planning to get some colour on this one when the clouds clear?
I started on this one last night. I was tossing up between this or the helix, but given all the recent activity on the helix I figured I'd go for 300 instead. I saw Greg's great version recently, must have missed Ray's... I'll have to go dig it up.
More seriously, great image scale with excellent details in NGC300 and also the background galaxies. Hope you have the opportunity to grab the colour soon.
Looking good guys! Nice, tight stars. Are you guys planning to get some colour on this one when the clouds clear?
I started on this one last night. I was tossing up between this or the helix, but given all the recent activity on the helix I figured I'd go for 300 instead. I saw Greg's great version recently, must have missed Ray's... I'll have to go dig it up. Anyway, nice work again.
Thanks, Lee. We'll definitely do some colour as soon as we can. We'd love to do more on the Helix outer chevrons too, but they're so faint they need 2x2 binning and the new moon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Sorry, Mike. It's way too magenta
Agreed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
More seriously, great image scale with excellent details in NGC300 and also the background galaxies. Hope you have the opportunity to grab the colour soon. Cheers, Rick.
Thanks! Next few nights look like movies and a good book.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Nice one Mike. You are resolving lots of the brighter stars in that galaxy. Remarkable. Greg.
Thanks muchly Greg.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John K
That's magic - looks like a shot of M33 which is testament to your scope and camera!
Cheers, John! We can see why people drove to Qld for M33.
Quote:
Originally Posted by troypiggo
Loving the speckles in the arms. Really add to it.
Thanks Troy. Interesting how apart from the speckles, the arms are actually extremely faint.
Hi Mike & Trish,
That's superb.
I tried a test shot tonight & with an 10" f4 & I only picked up
the central region with a 5 minute L subframe at 1x1.
It's a deceptively difficult beast.
Ahh long subs. I think you could stretch the data just a bit more to bring out those little galaxies in the back ground. There are so many of the tiny little suckers, it would be easy to mistaken those for stars. The main star of the show looks good and I suspect that another 5-10 hours are going to help bring out those faint dust lanes near the core.
Excellent Mike n Trish, the sharpness really pops and very smooth noise free for such dim surface brightness
Thanks, Fred. As Paul says, it would benefit from much more exposure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
She's right!
Fruitful 10hrs work there M&J and 1 hr subs sheesh ... yes love that little possum looking background galaxy top left too
I won't pass comment on the "dottyness" cause NGC300 does have that sort'a look but there are no worms at least
Great mega scope stuff again guys
Mike
Cheers, Mike! We can't wait to get both colour and much more luminance on it. Think it will be worth the effort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by topheart
What a sparkler!!
Congrats!!
Well done!
Tim
Thanks, Tim.
Quote:
Originally Posted by astronobob
Super capture ! Remarkably smooth for only 10 x 1hr long subs, Top processing there then too _ _
Thanks Bob.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alpal
Hi Mike & Trish,
That's superb.
I tried a test shot tonight & with an 10" f4 & I only picked up
the central region with a 5 minute L subframe at 1x1.
It's a deceptively difficult beast.
cheers
Allan
Hi, Allan. As you say, apart from the star-forming regions, the spiral arms are most elusive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
Ahh long subs. I think you could stretch the data just a bit more to bring out those little galaxies in the back ground. There are so many of the tiny little suckers, it would be easy to mistaken those for stars. The main star of the show looks good and I suspect that another 5-10 hours are going to help bring out those faint dust lanes near the core.
I am looking forward to seeing the final result.
Thanks, Paul. We agree with you on all counts. We managed to stretch it another x3 and nothing really terrible happened, but as you say, it desperately deserves a true hammering, with lots of lum, to try to get the really faint stuff. We can't wait. Should be worth the effort.
That is wonderfully sharp and deep. I've just got myself a decent-looking NGC300, but I might have to wait until people have forgotten about yours and the other great renditions on here, else it'll look awful shabby. Thanks for the views!
She's right! 
... yes love that little possum looking background galaxy top left too 
_ _ 
