Hi all

This image has taken ages to get to this point - I wanted to combine the data from 2 nights (unplanned) and getting the align/stack to do the job properly took ages! But finally here it is.

It's a combination of data taken on the 7th and 10th of March 2008.
7th March: 10x 5 minute exposures @ ISO800 at the Pony Club, Mangrove Mountain (our local dark sky site)
10th March: 16x 4 minute exposures @ ISO400 from my backyard.

Taken with an unmodded Canon 350D, ED80 + WO 0.8x reducer, guided on an EQ6 with DMK/PHD.

All flats calibrated, aligned/added/DDP in ImagesPlus, followed by processing in Photoshop. Darks were ICNR.

I'm fairly happy with it, but know that I can do better with a darker sky and more exposures. Maybe i'll give it another go at SPSP.

Click on the image on the page below:

NGC5128 - Centaurus A

Thanks for looking.

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Mike
. mikesalway.com.au - Astronomy and Photography by Mike Salway
. IceInSpace - The Australian Amateur Astronomy Community
. My Bio | My Jupiter 2007 Gallery | My Image Gallery

Simply Awesome Mike, stars are super sharp and the galaxys very faint dome (Halo) is well presented and its well known swirl band is sharp and lovely. A Great effort with fantastic results welldone and Clear Skies.

That's very nice. The dust band comes out very well. Very nice processing.

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Observatorio de la Ballona

Nice shot of this interesting subject w/ the 80ED (why are you using the focal reducer on this one?).

Robert

Love the clarity of the dust band even at this size. I must try this one with the 8". Thanks.

Kind regards
Matt

Thanks for your comments.

Rob, simply because the focal reducer is also a field flattener (WO 0.8x II). The ED80 without it, has a lot of curved stars in the corners. The WO doesn't eliminate them completely, but it does reduce them reasonably well most times.

Sometimes I like the fact that it gives me a nice wide 480mm FL, but at other times (like with this image) I wish I was imaging at about 1000mm. My next DSO imaging scope will be an 8" f/4 or f/5 newt with an MPCC.

__________________
Mike
. mikesalway.com.au - Astronomy and Photography by Mike Salway
. IceInSpace - The Australian Amateur Astronomy Community
. My Bio | My Jupiter 2007 Gallery | My Image Gallery