Galaxies

Messier 106/NGC4258 in Constellation Canes Venatici

240s x 75 = 4h, Gain 120 (Unity), Offset 4, Temp -5C
Image date, time and location: 2021-03-08, Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC F4 TS GPU Coma CorrectorCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Svbony 2" UV/IRProcessing applied: DSS, StarTools

Messier 106/NGC4258 and it's apparent neighbours

The same picture annotated to identify the main galaxies. There are a great many more tiny galaxies all over the place. Click on the picture on the left to get a bigger version and have a close look :)

Caldwell 32, NGC4631, The Whale.

I've always fancied having a go at this galaxy since it always looks good in other peoples images. This is 58 x 300s subs (+15 Darks, 10 Flats, 10 Dark Flats) at unity gain taken through my Meade LX 90 8" UHTC SCT circa 2006 which is not the worlds best scope so please excuse the star shapes. No reducer flattener was used so its F10 which gives a tiny 0.39 degree wide FoV.
I stacked the subs in ASTAP which most people use for plate solving. Its very good at that. But it also is very good at stacking. DSS would not stack these as the it doesn't recognise the stars as star and PixInsight just laughed. ASTAP has no problem once I had learnt what options to choose. Its very fast and quite smart, it even has a special debayer routine that put colour in the stars! I'm impressed. Post-processing was attempted in PixInsight. 14 + 15 April 2020. Camera and filters used: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, IDAS LPS-D1 LP filter, NEQ6 Pro belt drive.

M101 in Ursa Major

I tried to get loads more data for this image but the weather, equipment, satellites kept messing up things! The odd streak is not a satellite though two passed close to that position at the same angle and I couldn't really pin it to anything in the subs. Very odd.
1h 48m 26X250s Gain 121(unity) Offset 4 Temp-16cImage date, time and location: 2019-05-04 Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC f4, TS KomakorrCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Baader Neodymnium 1.25" filterProcessing applied: Pixinsight, GIMP

M52 'The Question Mark Galaxy'

Link to post on Orpington Astronomical Society Forum
22 x 250s Gain 120 Offset 4 Temp -15c, 10x5.8s Flats, 10 Dark Flats, 10 Darks, 0 Bias Image date, time and location: 2019-03-24 21:00 - 00:30 CET Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC f4, TS KomakorrCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Baader Neodymnium 1.25" filterProcessing applied: DSS 4.x, Startools

The Leo Triplet

An final run at getting shot of the blobs of colour. Success! Stacked in PI using the BatchPreprocessingFD script with FlatDarks not BIAS calibration.
Image date, time and location: 2019-02-26 -> 2019-03-07 Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC f4, TS KomakorrCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Baader Neodymnium 1.25" filterProcessing applied: Pixinsight, GIMP

Leo Triplet

Image date, time and location: 2015-04-13 00:30, MancheTelescope aperture and focal ratio: LX90 8" UHTC, Baader Alan Gee II TelecompressorCamera and filters used: 1000D Modded, IDAS LPS-D1 clip filterProcessing applied: DSS, CS2

M33 The Triangulum Galaxy

72x300s @iso1600Image date, time and location: 23:19 - 05:49 27-10-2017 Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: Teleskop Service TS1506UNC 6" f4, TS KomakorrF4Camera and filters used: Canon1100D defiltered, Astronomik UV/IR Cut Clip FilterProcessing applied: Pixinsight BatchPreprocessing, PhotometricColorCalibration, Arcsinh Stretch, MSLinTrans, Gimp Levels, colour, noise and unsharp mask

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

Exposure 240s, Gain 120 Offset 4, Temp-5C. 75 x lEnh, 90 x UV/IR processed as a single session in Weighted Batch Preprocessing v2 in PixInsight. I was concentrating on all the star forming and nebulous regions as well as the dust.
Image date, time and location: 2021-10-27, Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: Teleskop Service TS1506UNC f4, KomakorrCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI296MC Pro, Optolong lEnhance tri-band filter and UV/IRProcessing applied: PixInsight

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

Image date, time and location: 14-10-2017 23:55:00, Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: Teleskop Service TS1506UNC 6" f4, TS KomakorrF4Camera and filters used: Canon1100D defiltered, Astronomik UV/IR Cut Clip FilterProcessing applied: Pixinsight BatchPreprocessing, PhotometricColorCalibration, DynamicCrop, Arcsinh Stretch, CloneStamp, MSLinTrans, SCNR

The Milky Way, Cygnus, Vulpecula, around M27

10x300s @ iso1600Camera pigybacked on NEQ6 belt drive mount. Guided with OAG/QHY5L-II Mono and PHD 2. Captured with APT 3.12.
Image date, time and location: 2016-08-01 02:00 CET Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: Pentax 35-105mm Lens f4Camera and filters used: Canon 1000D Baader Filter, CLS-CCDProcessing applied: DeepSkyStacker, Irfanview, Lightzone. No calibration.

M104 Sombrero Galaxy

Image date, time and location: 2018-02-15 00:00:00 Manche, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC f4 Newtonian, TS Komakorr corrector, ZWO OAG with GPCAM2 MonoCamera and filters used: ZWO ASI294 Pro Colour @-15c, no filtersProcessing applied: DSS 3.3.4, GIMP 2.9.8beta

Part of Makarian's Chain in Virgo

3:25h at 300s iso 800Image date, time and location: 2015-04-14Telescope aperture and focal ratio: LX90 8", Baader Alan Gee II Telecompressor, Brightstar OAGCamera and filters used: Canon 1000d Modded, IDAS LPS-D1 clip filterProcessing applied: DeepSkyStacker, AstraImage 3.0SI

M31, M101, M32 Widefield (26x17 degrees)

Imaged using a borrowed iOptron SkyTracker RA drive. Polar alignment wasn't perfect so there is slight trailing on the 300s subs. Half size resampled. Colour improved.Image date, time and location: 20130930 30 Sept 2013, 9:00-00:30 UTC, Les Alpilles, FranceTelescope aperture and focal ratio: Asahi Pentax 50mm manual lens at f4Camera and filters used: Canon 1000D Modded, Astronomik CLS-CCDProcessing applied: Deep Sky Stacker and minor tweaks in Irfanview, no sharpening

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