Galaxy Thread - Post your images of galaxies

[Jeff WX1USN]

Looks great. But then I've yet to see an astro pic from you that wasn't stellar, pardon the pun. Seriously, your astro work is second to none.

Thank you very much.

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

Another shot of M66 but from the Slooh 17" scope in the Canary Islands.

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

Another shot of M81 this time using equatorial mode for 174 minutes and processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom.

 

[Darren75]

equatorial mode

What does that mean?

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

What does that mean?

There are two ways to mount a telescope to look at the sky, Alt/AZ, where the scope is mounted "flat" and moves left and right and up and down, that means in order to follow an object the scope has to move in steps up down left right, and objects as the earth turns appear to rotate the best way to see that is to look at the big dipper, during the night and year it will appear in different configurations i.e. at one point during the night it will be upright and hold water and then during the night it appears to rotate and dump the water out.
Equatorial Mode the scope is pointed at the North Star, Polaris, and the mount is design so that it rotates at the same speed as the earth and when the scope is aimed at the big dipper the scope follows it by rotating keeping the object in the same configuration that you started imaging it. If the scope followed it long enough and it was dark long enough and you could see through the earth you would have it in view in the same configuration the entire time. There are youtubes that explain it.

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

3 galaxies from last night, the wind really messed up the images I was taking.

I decided even though the wind was 6-8 mph it is less than it has been for weeks and it was clear. I decided to try not only EQ mode but 20 second exposures. What I have found is that 20 second exposures are much more susceptible to wind. I first did M63 the Sunflower for 35 minutes and got 30 minutes of subs so thought I might do ok but no...
For example M51 2 hours of imaging to get 11 minutes of subs and M81 4 1/2 hours of imaging to get 13 minutes of subs. ALL the rest were affected by the wind. I have never had that bad results even in the wind with 10 second exposures. Looking at this I think if there is any wind I need to do 10 second exposures and only if it is calm can I do 20 or 30 second exposures.
These images were stacked in the S50 and then tweaked in Lightroom but no star sharpening or star correction applied. They are not that bad for the limited exposures actually used, although M63 is disappointing due to the lack of detail.

as an aside for wind speed

8. Newton, Massachusetts​

• Average Wind Speed: 12.7 mph
• Most Windy Months: February
• Average High Temperature: 82°F
• Average Low Temperature: 20°F

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

3 galaxies from last night, the wind really messed up the images I was taking.

I decided even though the wind was 6-8 mph it is less than it has been for weeks and it was clear. I decided to try not only EQ mode but 20 second exposures. What I have found is that 20 second exposures are much more susceptible to wind. I first did M63 the Sunflower for 35 minutes and got 30 minutes of subs so thought I might do ok but no...
For example M51 2 hours of imaging to get 11 minutes of subs and M81 4 1/2 hours of imaging to get 13 minutes of subs. ALL the rest were affected by the wind. I have never had that bad results even in the wind with 10 second exposures. Looking at this I think if there is any wind I need to do 10 second exposures and only if it is calm can I do 20 or 30 second exposures.

So you can do 20 second exposure on an Alt/Az mount, if the wind allows it.

I'm surprised that even the small Seestar is affected by the wind that much.

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

Messier 66 another shot this time with the 14" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescope in the Slooh Chile Observatory