Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => Astrophotography => Topic started by: MarkS on Apr 21, 2021, 00:33:26

Title: M51 Again
Post by: MarkS on Apr 21, 2021, 00:33:26
Each year I return to my favourite galaxy.

(http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2021/m51_20210416_small.jpg)

This one is 3 hours of data taken in 30second subs at ISO 10000.  Modified Sony A7S on Celestron C11 with Starizona LF 0.72x corrector.

Larger version is here:
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2021/m51_20210416.jpg

The larger version is a 1920x1080 crop of a 1.5x CFA Drizzled stack with a modest amount of deconvolution and noise reduction.  It's the most detailed version I've managed to create so far.

Mark
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: Mac on Apr 21, 2021, 07:46:40
very nice image as always.

Mac.
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: MarkS on Apr 21, 2021, 08:22:58
Quote from: Mac
very nice image as always.

Thanks  ;)
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: RobertM on Apr 21, 2021, 08:48:22
What a great image, especially after that, almost 6 month, hiatus.  Lovely detail to the core of M51a and dust lanes of M51b.

I guess you got everything working again  ;)

Edit: are you back to using the A7S or is it that the pixels are better suited to the f/l ?

Robert
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: Hugh on Apr 21, 2021, 08:56:28
Thanks Mark

Such a beautiful galaxy ~ leaves you in awe of the Universe!

Hugh
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: Roberto on Apr 21, 2021, 09:52:03
Great Mark!  Superb detail in that shot.  Expertly processed.

Roberto
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: JohnH on Apr 21, 2021, 10:47:00
Fantastic. I really like the background galaxies too. It reminds you that space is HUGE!

John
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: MarkS on Apr 21, 2021, 10:52:05
Quote from: RobertM
What a great image, especially after that, almost 6 month, hiatus.  Lovely detail to the core of M51a and dust lanes of M51b.

I guess you got everything working again  ;)

Edit: are you back to using the A7S or is it that the pixels are better suited to the f/l ?

Thanks Robert.  The pixel size of the Nikon Z6 is more suited to the Tak E180 and the Sony A7S is more suited for the Celestron C11.  So I never stopped using the Sony A7S.

Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: Carole on Apr 21, 2021, 11:14:38
Nice to see you imaging again Mark.  Very nice results, though I wonder whether there is more data to pull out of it.

Carole
Title: Re: M51 Again
Post by: NoelC on Apr 22, 2021, 13:55:35
Wow - really good Mark.