Hi
I couldn't make up my mind whether or not to go out and try imaging last night because the weather was so bad during the day, ie snow in the afternoon and rain in the evening but it started to clear about 9pm and I eventually decided to give it a go at about 10pm. I thought I'd have a go at a galaxy for a change so I tried M101 as it was fairly high in the sky and away from most of the effects of light pollution. I set the computer to do 20x8 minute subframes unguided (one of these days I will be trying the autoguider), I didn't use longer than 8 minutes as when I tried a longer test exposure the core appeared a bit burnt out. Everything went fine until the dreaded meridian flip on the 19th subframe. Although the sky was clear ie no clouds the seeing wasn't too brilliant. There are a couple of other fuzzies which I am not sure about, one towards the top left and one towards the bottom right, I haven't had a look as to what they are yet, but any suggestions would be most welcome. A better quality image is on my website http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk
Taken with TMB 115 f7, no flattener (yet)
Paramount ME
Starlight Xpress SXVF H36 with broadband light pollution filter
Exposure 18x8 minutes unguided
Thanks for looking
Regards
Gordon

The galaxy at the far right is NGC 5474. A very weird galaxy heavily distorted by tidal forces of M101. The disk is very bright on the side away from M101 but very dim on the side toward it. I've seen references saying its disk has sloshed about like water in bowl.

Rick

Attached Images

NGC5474L6X10RGB2X10R1CROP.jpg (96.4 KB, 12 views)

Nice widefield shot. That large field of view makes that huge galaxy look so tiny!

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Observatorio de la Ballona

Great shot especially with the clarity of the smaller background objects.

Kind regards
Matt

Hi Gordon.
That is one fine image of M-101. Nice set up you have. Clear skies to you. Paul.

A fine wide angle shot of m101 and its companions. Welldone Gordon and Clear Skies