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M81 (Bodes Galaxy), M82 (Cigar Galaxy), and NGC 3077 from light-polluted backyard(Dave Samuels)
| Acquisition Date | : | 02/05/2006, Pleasanton, California
Sky Fog limit was about 60secs |
| Camera | : | Canon 20D unmodified about 42deg F |
| Camera Settings | : | 31 cr2 raw frames
31 x 70sec 800ISO unguided RAW+jpg with in-camera noise reduction Focused with ImagesPlus and homemade diffraction spike focusing aid. Captured with ImagesPlus 2.75 beta 8b Darks taken with in-camera noise reduction also Mirror lock off |
| Telescope | : | Orion ED80 f/07.5 FL=600mm (First Light) |
| Mount | : | Astro-Physics AP1200GTOcp2 unguided
Mount was mounted on a Meade Giant Field tripod since my AP Portable Pier is still on its way. (AP1200 has a central bolt hole) Aligned only by using AP polar scope, since the AZ adjuster wasn't compatible with the meade tripod and I didn't know how long I would have to drift align before the inevitable nightly fog rolled in. Results were that I got 19.7 pixel shift over 1.5 hours of this image run. Pointing with StarryNight Pro 4.52. |
| Adapter / Prime / Afocal / Other | : | Prime |
| Processing Package / Processing Applied | : | North is up, West is to the right
Manually focused using diffraction focusing aid with IP FWHM function. Captured using ImagesPlus 2.75 beta 8b ImagesPlus automatic calibration processing with darks. This image has dust motes because I was unable to take flats as my session ended before sunrise because of severe dew. Photoshop: levels, curves, astrotools light pollution (as false flat), crop. Images Plus: Multi-resolution sharp (61,40.;9, 15.7,na,na) This is the first time I tried using in-camera noise reduction with ImagesPlus' adaptive dark subtraction. |
| Web Site | : | www.davesamuels.com |
| NOTES | : | M081 taken from backyard in Pleasanton under 3.5 skies.
This is first light for an AP1200GTO and an ED80 taken with a Canon 20D at 800iso w/ noise reduction. I was very impressed with the ED80 and the Canon 20D. There was no trouble with backfocus or frontfocus. The Canon can use the Meade f/6.3 reducer/flattener or a light pollution filter but not both unless I can find some zero backfocus filters. Neither were used in this case, but I look forward to using the reducer/flattener to yield 400mm f/5.0. M81 and NGC3077 are both about 12 million light-years (mly) from earth and are part of the same galaxy group as M82 (8.5 mly). NGC3077 is a peculiar irregular shaped galaxy. M81 is a beautiful galaxy when you can capture it's photons. M82 is the first object I tried to take a film picture of a few years ago. |
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