NGC 5981, NGC 5982, and NGC 5985

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menardre
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NGC 5981, NGC 5982, and NGC 5985

Unread post by menardre »

Last night was one of those (rare) nights when everything went off perfectly.

I gave a lecture on astronomy at the Swansea Library (27 attendees). Had a great time and made it home just in time to setup for imaging. I was queued onto imaging the NGC 5981 group from a post on Astrobin. NGC 5981 group is in Draco so it is well situated. I then used SkyTools4 to see how it would image on my system.

I reconfigured my equipment to use the 11 inch SCT with ZWO ASI2600. I used 5 inch refractor and ZWO ASI290 for autoguiding.
Everything went smoothly. Used SGP to manage all Hardware, PHD2, and platesolving. Platesolving worked perfectly and meridian flip was flawless. SGP performed a few other platesolving and a few autofocus process throughout the night, all unattended and all flawless. I am still using SGP ver 4.0, however Pegasus has issued an update to their software that corrects ASCOM driver problems when using SGP ver 4.1. I may re-try using SGP 4.1 in the near future, although 4.0 works well for me.

I was able to start imaging around 9:45PM, then went to bed and completed around 4AM (although the last several images were very bright due to getting close to sunrise). In all I captured 166 images (2 minutes, -10C, gain 100, 2x2 binning). I threw out several images mostly due to bright sky at sunrise) and ended up keeping 144. I also took 55 flats.

The NGC 5981 group are about 100 million light years away and are comprised of two spiral galaxies (NGC 5981 is edge-on, and NGC 5985 is almost face-on) as well as an elliptical galaxy (NGC 5982).

Roger

Two images, one full frame and one cropped.
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_EzDN_PCC_ArcSinH_Curves_MLTsharp_Curves_MLTsharp_MLT5321_GAME5981only_MLTsharp_MLTsharp_CurveSR_MLTsharp_R.jpg
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_EzDN_PCC_ArcSinH_Curves_MLTsharp_Curves_MLTsharp_MLT5321_GAME5981only_MLTsharp_MLTsharp_CurveSR_MLTsharp_R.jpg (1.1 MiB) Viewed 419 times
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_EzDN_PCC_ArcSinH_Curves_MLTsharp_Curves_MLTsharp_MLT5321_GAME5981only_MLTsharp_MLTsharp_CurveSR_MLTsharp_R_DC.jpg
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_EzDN_PCC_ArcSinH_Curves_MLTsharp_Curves_MLTsharp_MLT5321_GAME5981only_MLTsharp_MLTsharp_CurveSR_MLTsharp_R_DC.jpg (495.29 KiB) Viewed 419 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.
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Pete
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Re: NGC 5981, NGC 5982, and NGC 5985

Unread post by Pete »

Almost 6 hours of exposure sure does make for a clean image. Your pinpoint stars at a relatively long focal length always make me jealous.
Pete P.
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menardre
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Re: NGC 5981, NGC 5982, and NGC 5985

Unread post by menardre »

Pete

Thanks..

Concerning pinpoint stars... I do use star reduction processes in Pixinsight to help. Similar to Images Plus, but Pixinsight has a few different techniques depending upon how much star reduction you are looking for.

Also, much easier to get sharper stars with my 11 in vice your 14 inch. I find a great deal of difference when I go from my 5 inch refractor to my 11 inch SCT.

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.
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menardre
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Re: NGC 5981, NGC 5982, and NGC 5985

Unread post by menardre »

I reprocessed the NGC 5891 image. Used NoiseExterminator vice EzDenoise and minimized sharpness. Also did not rotate the image.

You can see several other smaller galaxies.

Roger
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_BN_Autocolor_ArcSinH_NXT_CUrves_Curves.jpg
NGC 5981 Master_DBEdiv_BN_Autocolor_ArcSinH_NXT_CUrves_Curves.jpg (1.4 MiB) Viewed 404 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.
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