Last year I imaged the Leo Triplet. I decided that each galaxy really needs to be individually imaged so last night I imaged M66. It was a fairly clear night however the winds were gusty. I used 11in SCT with ZWO ASI2600 camera with 0.8 focal reducer. I used 5 inch refractor and ZWO ASI290 for autoguiding.
I started imaging around 8:30PM and stopped around 3AM. At which point I took 50 flats (0.15 seconds). I was able to capture 157 images (2 minute subs) but the gusting winds caused several of the images to be unusable. Using PixInsight, I first used 'blink' to scan through the images and discard those with obvious effects from the wind. I then used SubframeSelector to further weed out images with high FWHM or Eccentricity. I ended up processing 127 images.
M66 is a spiral galaxy in Leo. The M65/M66 pair are easy visible in even a modest telescope. It is about 31 Million light years from Earth and is part of the famous Leo Triplet of galaxies. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780!
Roger
M66 Spiral Galaxy.jpg (15.75 MiB) Viewed 640 times
Roger M.
Celestron CPC1100 EDGE, Stellarvue 130T refractor dual mounted on iOptron CEM120 on permanent pier mounted in Observatory. Imaging camera ZWO ASI2600 OSC, guide camera Lodestar or ZWO ASI290MM.
Sounds like a lot of work in selecting, but you came up with a real winner here, Roger.
Tom
Tom H
"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." - Louis Pasteur
I plan on completing imaging the third and last portion of the Leo Triplet soon. The LEO Triplet is just too nice a grouping to not at least try to do some justice.
I also saw on Astrobin someone imaged M99 (Katherines Wheel) with really good results. Since it is in a good portion of the sky, I will attempt to image M99 as well. After looking up M99, I see that the area surrounding M99 is chock full of galaxies. So maybe time for some wide-filed imaging of that region.
Roger
Roger M.
Celestron CPC1100 EDGE, Stellarvue 130T refractor dual mounted on iOptron CEM120 on permanent pier mounted in Observatory. Imaging camera ZWO ASI2600 OSC, guide camera Lodestar or ZWO ASI290MM.
Nice one Roger. Detail in M66 is great. Look forward to your next one.
--- Chuck
Chuck M.
Meade 8" LX200 Classic OTA
iOptron CEM40EC and MiniPier on Meade classic field tripod
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II
Canon 7D Mark II
ZWO 60mm f/4.6 GS with ASI120MM-S camera
Starizona SCT Corrector II and Virtual View 2" Rotating Visual Back
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox
