Ngc253

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Evening again,

Most of the waffle is in my 'M42' thread, but this was my main target for the night. My viewing location stops me seeing a lot of the more interesting nebulae (specially to the north), so I've been concentrating on galaxies.

Comparing this image to that of M42, I do think that this scope does best when imaging larger objects. So a refinement of my imaging targets will be called for.

Anyway, enough gabble from me.

Feedback and constructive criticism welcome as always.

Cheers,
V

Details:
EvoStar 72ED @ 420mm / ASI183MC / HEQ5 / SV165+SZ305
Proc: Siril, Affinity Photo
Bortle: 5/6
Gain: 25
Offset: 10
Temp: 0 degrees C
Lights: 300 @ 10 seconds
Darks: 40
Flats: 40
Bias: 44

[xelasnave]

Well done. I am surprised you were able to catch this object with such good detail.
Personally I enjoy the story along with the image.
Alex

[Stephane]

Great job Steve! You must be enjoying that camera. The image is less than 100kb so can’t see much detail there, but the stars look great and the galaxy has a nice colour. Have you considered creating an Astrobin account to show your images at full resolution?

[Dave882 (David)]

That’s really nice mate! I think there’s a lot of merit for imaging some of these larger galaxies with their surrounding star field so no issues using an ed72 on a target like this. Looks really tight and details well done!! I do think there’s a lot more colour to be brought out from this target with a bit more integration and courageous processing .

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Not only is that a nice image, it gives me hope for my own camera.

Well done!

[oska (John)]

Good work Steve, great shot.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Thanks again for the feedback and compliments.

Originally Posted by Stephane

Great job Steve! You must be enjoying that camera. The image is less than 100kb so can’t see much detail there, but the stars look great and the galaxy has a nice colour. Have you considered creating an Astrobin account to show your images at full resolution?

I am enjoying the camera. It's a bit of a beast compared to the DSLR, given it's need for flat/dark/bias frames. I feel I'm getting there slowly.

I haven't really considered an Astrobin account. I don't think my work is good enough for "general consumption".

I know with this image that the outer sections of the galaxy are very, very noisy and very mottled with gunk. I really need to get more experience with this camera (especially how it's very sensitive to blue wavelengths) and how to process the data it provides.

Originally Posted by Crater101

Not only is that a nice image, it gives me hope for my own camera.

You have the '183MC-Pro as well, right? Take my settings and run with them! See how they work for your environment, and work from there. That's half the reason I post them up - to help other people starting out with their imaging.

Originally Posted by Dave882

I do think there’s a lot more colour to be brought out from this target with a bit more integration and courageous processing .

Thanks Dave. My biggest issue is the overwhelming blue channel I'm capturing. The streetlights in my street are the new super-bright LED ones and even though they're blocked by the buildings around me, I feel I have a lot of their light collected because I'm shooting through their "light cloud".

I'm seriously considering getting a filter drawer and a dual-band filter to try and mitigate this (when finances permit) so am researching this option.

Cheers,
V

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Lovey image Steve, isn’t it great seeing data come alive Was the image cropped any? Sometimes a light crop can help with the composition too.

Originally Posted by AstroViking

Thanks again for the feedback and compliments.

I'm seriously considering getting a filter drawer and a dual-band filter to try and mitigate this (when finances permit) so am researching this option.

I definitely recommend this when finances allow. The ZWO filter drawer is obviously designed to worked perfectly with your ZWO camera in your optical train, but there are a number of others too. In addition to a dual NB filter, I’ve also found it handy to have a UV/IR cut filter which I always use unless the NB filter is being used. Antlia are soon to release an RGB filter which looks like a type of UHC filter centred on the RGB peaks (with 50nm-ish bandpass) but hopefully without the nasty halos UHC filters tend to have. Alex

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by AstroViking

I really need to get more experience with this camera (especially how it's very sensitive to blue wavelengths) and how to process the data it provides.


You have the '183MC-Pro as well, right? Take my settings and run with them! See how they work for your environment, and work from there. That's half the reason I post them up - to help other people starting out with their imaging.

Cheers,
V

I do. I've been switching back and forth between the 183MC Pro, and a modified Canon 60D to try and get something useable. The process continues. I've certainly been taking note of what you've been doing. Cheers!

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi Alex,

Originally Posted by Doogs38

Was the image cropped any? Sometimes a light crop can help with the composition too.

Yes, I did crop the image down a bit. Not a lot, just enough to increase the size of the galaxy. It's already reasonably large in the uncropped image. I did try bringing the image all the way down to 1920x1080 (from the native resolution of 5496x3672) but it was pretty ugly...

With regards to the filter drawer, I've been looking the most at the ZWO one (for obvious reasons). The filter, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish... Thanks for the pointer to the Antlia one - although that may be a bit out of my budget.

Cheers,
V