Ngc300

[Dave882 (David)]

NGC300 is quite a beautiful spiral galaxy in Sculptor, right next door to ngc253 and ngc55. In fact it's thought that ngc55 and ngc300 are gravitationally bound. It's quite large and bright, but fairly low surface brightness, particularly in the outer regions, so a challenge from the suburbs of Sydney.

Similar to it's other Sculptor neighbours, the c14 could only just squeeze it on an APS-C chip. I personally prefer to see some of the starfield around these galaxies cause there's so many interesting background galaxies - but unless I do a mosaic or a few sessions with the hyperstar that's all I can manage.

It's taken 2 new moons to get 8hrs of data on ngc300 - probably only half of that was in good seeing (Sydney ay!). While it's still pretty noisy I'm prepared to leave it here for '22.

480x 60sec subs (no moon)
gain 100
C14 non edge @f7 with the Starizona reducer L
EQ8 pro
Asi2600mc pro (no filter)
Asi290mm / celestron OAG
ASIAIR pro / APP / PS
Binned (scaled) 50% in processing

Bigger version here

Thanks for visiting!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Dave,
That’s a fine result from a faint Galaxy under our crappy light pollution
I’ve imaged NGC 300 a few times from my dark skies down south with the old 8” and still can’t resolve the sort of detail you’ve managed to pull out under less than ideal skies
Well done indeed !!
Your image scale using that 2600MC with that massive focal length must be around 0.30 to 0.40 super oversampled ( I’m around 0.88 in Sydney and 0.62 down south in the Dome with the 10” )
Do you use Startools, I couldn’t remember, you could Bin the crap out it to get your noise down and signal up , plus there’s a load of noise mitigating tools as well , not too many folk like using it , I certainly do
Cheers
Martin

[multiweb (Marc)]

Really nice close up Dave.
I like that little galaxy cluster at 8 o'clock. Very neat.

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by Startrek

Dave,
That’s a fine result from a faint Galaxy under our crappy light pollution
I’ve imaged NGC 300 a few times from my dark skies down south with the old 8” and still can’t resolve the sort of detail you’ve managed to pull out under less than ideal skies
Well done indeed !!
Your image scale using that 2600MC with that massive focal length must be around 0.30 to 0.40 super oversampled ( I’m around 0.88 in Sydney and 0.62 down south in the Dome with the 10” )
Do you use Startools, I couldn’t remember, you could Bin the crap out it to get your noise down and signal up , plus there’s a load of noise mitigating tools as well , not too many folk like using it , I certainly do
Cheers
Martin

Hi thanks mate. It’s not as super crisp as id like due to the majority of the integration from poor ish conditions. One night was fantastic, but just not enough data on its own to smooth the sky noise! It’s a game of compromise. Yeah the image scales not ideal- I think I’m about 0.28 from memory so unless it’s a truely exceptional night I end up binning in processing. I’ve been using APP that’s pretty basic but also super easy to use which suits me right now. I did a scale factor so this at 0.5 (eqivealnt to bin2). PS /LR has been my option for noise control. When I have a bunch of spare time I’m going to give either startools or PI a go - it’s really impressive what I see come from u pros!

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Really nice close up Dave.
I like that little galaxy cluster at 8 o'clock. Very neat.

Thanks Marc- yeah there’s lots of interesting fuzzies in the background. in hindsight I would have framed it all differently so that that little cluster wasn’t sitting in the middle of the noisy border right in the edge of the fov but I’m glad it made the shot. There’s a few other clusters in a wider view that I couldn’t catch. Framing was really difficult because ngc300 is so faint in the individual subs- really only the core is visible. I was guessing based on positions of a few brighter stars to get my orientation. Reckon I got most of the main stuff in tho

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yeah NGC300 almost always delivers, close enough to see real detail inside the galaxy, not to mention it sits in a fabulous field of distant galaxies and galaxy clusters! very cool, nice job Dave

Mike

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeah NGC300 almost always delivers, close enough to see real detail inside the galaxy, not to mention it sits in a fabulous field of distant galaxies and galaxy clusters! very cool, nice job Dave

Mike

Thanks mate. Add to that it’s also so well positioned for us down here! I still reckon your version from 2016 is about as good as I’ve ever seen showing both the foreground AND background detail. There’s so much in there I’ll certainly return here again in the future to try and pull more out!

[Addos (Adam)]

perfect target for this setup, great shot dave

[petershah (Peter Shah)]

beautiful

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

That’s absolutely gorgeous, Dave. The difference in detail (for the same target) you’ve obtained with your c14 vs my 120ed refractor is significant to say the least. Where I can obtain blue lanes in the galaxy’s arms and around the core, you’ve started resolving individual star fields. I’m looking forward to seeing your final result in 2023. Alex

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks guys for the comments. Much appreciated!

Alex- I think the aim is to get the most out of the gear you have! I’m happy with how my ngc300 turned out and yes I love the long fl and big aperture advantage on these kind of targets, but I was also so impressed by your efforts and wonderful result with your own setup. Its a different but equally valid perspective on the same target. And yes every time I return to a target with more data and/or some new processing skills it gets a bit better again!

[gregbradley]

That's a really nice NGC300 Dave. Lots of details, the stars look great and excellent processing.

Greg.

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Cheers Dave.

Originally Posted by Dave882

“Alex. … every time I return to a target with more data and/or some new processing skills it gets a bit better again!

Amen! That’s my mantra atm Sooooooo much to learn but that’s what makes this hobby great. Alex

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a really nice NGC300 Dave. Lots of details, the stars look great and excellent processing.

Greg.

Thanks Greg I appreciate the feedback! Tbh I think I can still do a bit better with the stars - but that’s always going to be tough with a non-edge sct .