Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Fornax (For)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1365
NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress ), Martin Dowd
NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress )
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NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress )

Revision title: NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy (final)

NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress ), Martin Dowd
NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress )
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NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress )

Revision title: NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy (final)

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

This is only my second time attempting this magnitude 10.0 Galaxy from my City Suburban Bortle 8 location. 
Imaging Broadband targets like faint galaxies from heavy light polluted Red zones is so challenging but frustrating as well. 
First discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in 1826 from his timber hut observatory at Parramatta , Sydney NSW Australia. 
This Galaxy is a works in progress for me so hope to gather more data in the next new moon period ( if the weather gods allow ) 
Capture details to date …..,
New Moon period 
Captured over 3 half nights 
B8 Skies ( Sky Brightness 18.50 mag /arc sec2 ) 
Conditions varied with intermittent high cloud , seeing was average
8” f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon Newt
Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO 2600MM camera , cooled to -10C , Gain 0
Antlia LRGB pro filters 
Luminance 330 x 30 sec subs
Red 150 x 30 sec subs
Green 148 x 30 sec subs
Blue 100 x 30 sec subs 
Dithered every 3rd sub
Total integration approx 6 hours
Full Calibration Suite -  Darks , Flats , Flat Darks 
EQMOD and Stellarium 
APT
PHD2 Multistar guiding 0.50 to 0.60 arc sec 
Subs Analysed , Calibrated, Stacked and Aligned in ASTAP
Processed in Startools v1.8 
The image was cropped at 50% otherwise the galaxy would be so tiny in the image frame. 

Even with 30 sec subs the luminance data is riddled with gradient and the sky background vastly changes from Dusk to Midnight. Even at midnight the sky background of the subs are still super bright. I chose to start imaging and hour or so after dark to minimise the sky background in the subs. 

For only 6 hours of data under heavy LP I was pleased with the image so far , even though it was an arm wrestle to peg back the noise floor ( image is still noisy ) 

I’ve been reviewing the Antlia Triband RGB broadband filter as a possible replacement for my Luminance filter but have yet to see any images on line with folk using a Mono camera with this filter. 

Thanks for looking 

Comments Welcome 

Martin

Comments

Revisions

  • NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress ), Martin Dowd
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress ), Martin Dowd
    B

B

Title: NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy (final)

Description: Added another few hours to the image
Could only expose slightly more detail in the core and arms
This faint Galaxy imaged under heavy light polluted B8 skies needs significantly more data to expose fine detail in the outer shell above the noise floor , probably in the order of 10 to 20 hours or more.
Moving onto other celestial targets once the weather clears
Thanks for looking
Comments welcome
Martin

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NGC 1365 Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( Works in Progress ), Martin Dowd