M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

[StarzSkies]

I shot the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) over 2 nights.
Using a SVBONY Sv503 102ed coupled with ASI585MC Pro
SV260 Broadband filter.
SharpCap
Guiding PHD2
Master Flat.
Darks as appropriate for each night.
First night 79 frames 90 seconds dither every 2 frames.
Second night 119 frames 60 seconds dither every 3 frames.
Stacked separately in Siril then processed the output PP_Light files using the OSC_Preprocessing_WithoutDBF to created one final stacked image.
I did most editing in Siril. Star Removal, Channel Extraction, Pixel Math etc.
Reinjected HA data back into my starless image to bring out the nebula better.
A lot of dancing with stretches etc.
Some minor editing in GIMP, Starless and Starmask before recombining in Siril.
Final touchup in Affinity.
I attached an image of my first attempt a couple of months ago using my Space Cat 51 V3, ASI2600MC, SV260 Broad Band.
Not a great result post processing (the data is probably ok) but am thinking about reprocessing it just to see if I get any improvement.
While I was wrapping my session, I figured I'd point to the Eagle Nebula just to see what I can get.
Only 19 frames, 90 seconds. Mind you not the right setup. I was surprised with what i got.
Did a quick and dirty edit. I included that here as well.
I'm planning on doing the Eagle in the next couple of weeks. Probably multi night.
Looking forward to that result.
Thanks for looking.
Frank

[admin]

Hi Frank,

nice images, particularly the larger, more colourful M51. Good luck with the next target!

Robin

[StarzSkies]

Thanks Robin!

[StarzSkies]

So it’s been hot where I am.
100+/- at 6:00pm
65+/- st 7:00am
Big temperature swings and several degrees per hour after sunset. Had to get an EAF. Bumped through it for a couple of nights but got it working with my setup. Great SC feature. Thanks again Robin! Don’t know how you find the time, development and maintenance, been there, big lift.
Anyway I revisited my Eagle Nebula capture, again very minimal frames and wrong filter but put some effort into and came up with this.
Thanks for looking.
Frank

[admin]

Hi Frank,

good to hear that the autofocus is now behaving itself - it's one of those things (like plate solving) that truly changes things when imaging - suddenly one of the big bugbears is no longer a problem and is just the matter of clicking a button.

We've been suffering with hot weather here too - 90F + (33-35C) in the day and only got down to about 21C (70F) last night. Yuck. What's worse, the humidity is high (60%), so the 'heat index' is apparently about 44C at the moment. Fortunately we have a big AC unit in one room that keeps that room cool and the rest of the downstairs tolerable, but still not getting much done...

What's even worse is that the haze overnight not only makes it not worth observing, but also stops the temperature from dropping

clear skies (at night, eventually!)

cheers,

Robin

[StarzSkies]

Hi Robin,
Sounds like challenging conditions.
My next goal is setting up an automated process using your advanced sequencer. That would be great to start it and let it run.
Any plans in the future to design an automated meridian flip process?
Frank

[admin]

Hi Frank,

the tricky part about the meridian flip is that there are lots of peculiarities in how mounts handle it - for instance a skywatcher mount using EQMOD can get into a state where it has tracked to/past the limit and then it seems that using the arrow keys to move it back east a bit is the only way to 'unstick' it from that state. My concern therefore is that if I put in something that is billed as 'auto meridian flip', it would fail more often than it worked, at least until all of the gotchas were sorted out on a mount type by type basis.

You *can* build a sequence already that will handle the meridian flip, but you have to build it yourself out of several sequencer blocks, including some which can stop imaging when the meridian is approached and others to perform the flip, re-goto the target, recenter, etc. By making it a little less 'one click', I hope it encourages people who want to do this to build their own version and then test it, rather than just tick the 'meridian flip' box and then find out if it works or not in real imaging time...

cheers,

Robin

[StarzSkies]

Thanks Robin,
Yes, a lot of variables to be concerned with.
For now, I’ll do it manually and focus on getting the sequence planner under my belt to handle everything else.
Frank