Imaging telescopes or lenses: Astro-Tech AT8IN
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool
Mounts: Skywatcher NEQ-6 Pro Synscan
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Astro-Tech AT8IN
Guiding cameras: ZWO AS120MM-Mini
Focal reducers: High Point Scientific Coma Corrector Photo & Visual For Netwonian Telescopes 2"
Software: photoshop · DeepSkyStacker · Noel Carboni's Astro Tools for PhotoShop · StarTools · AstroPlanner · PHD2 Guiding · Sequence Generator Pro · EQASCOM
Filters: ZWO Red 31 mm · ZWO Luminance 31 mm · ZWO Green 31 mm · ZWO Blue 31 mm
Accessory: Orion Thin Off Axis Guider (TOAG) · Robert Brown's Arduino ASCOM Focuser Pro DIY · ZWO EFW filter wheel
Dates:March 3, 2020 , March 4, 2020
Frames:
ZWO Blue 31 mm: 20x180" (gain: 139.00) -20C bin 1x1
ZWO Green 31 mm: 20x180" (gain: 139.00) -20C bin 1x1
ZWO Luminance 31 mm: 60x180" (gain: 139.00) -20C bin 1x1
ZWO Red 31 mm: 25x180" (gain: 139.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 6.2 hours
Avg. Moon age: 8.52 days
Avg. Moon phase: 61.92%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00
Astrometry.net job: 3353923
RA center: 12h 15' 10"
DEC center: +13° 26' 55"
Pixel scale: 1.719 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 88.362 degrees
Field radius: 0.667 degrees
Resolution: 2148x1790
Locations: Mapleton Lateral Observatory, Mapleton, Utah, United States
Data source: Backyard
40 MLy
This is a first-time attempt at this target for me. I had a few consecutive clear nights at the end of February / beginning of March and tried to take advantage of them, but amidst all the recent turning-upside-down-of-the-world I had not taken the opportunity to do the processing until last night. There are an incredible number of galaxies in this field of view. Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised at how this image turned out, and it seemed easier to process than many of my recent attempts. NGC 4216 is the largest, most prominent spiral in the upper left part of the image. There’s a very interesting bright area just to the right of the central bulge, and quite prominent dust lanes. Distances to NGC 4216 reported online vary from 40 million light years (which seems the most common) up to 55 million light years, but I suspect this latter value is for the Virgo Cluster as a whole.
Date: 3-4 Mar 2020
Subject: NGC 4216 and vicinity
Scope: AT8IN+High Point Scientific Coma Corrector
Filters: ZWO 31 mm diameter unmounted L, R, G, B
Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD 2.000j)+PEC
Guiding: Orion Thin Off-axis Guider + ASI120MM-mini +PHD 2.6.7 (Win 10 ASCOM)
Camera: ASI1600MM-Cool, -20 °C, Gain 139 Offset 21
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 3.1.0.454
Exposure: 60x180 L, 25x180 R, 20x180 G, 20x180 B
Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker 4.2.3 (64-bit) dark+flat+bias, κ-σ stacking with κ = 1.5.
Processing: StarTools 1.6.392 beta: For L, software binned 2x2, cropped, wiped, developed, HDR optimized “reveal all”, deconvoluted, and untrack denoised (grain equalization). Combined R, G, & B in StarTools, accounting for exposure total times in combination. 2x2 software binned, cropped, developed, HDR optimized “reveal all,” color module with default settings. Untrack denoised (grain elimination). In Photoshop, applied L as luminance layer at 100% opacity. Slight levels adjustment. AstroFrame.
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