First things first, this conversion has been fun, thus the "Happy Face" framing.
Looking back, the original submission of the Leo Triplets in February of 2022 was one of my first, and had the least signal of any previous image, barely an hour. This submission, the first mono with the ASI 2600mm camera, represents a lot more signal and even more knowledge gained (with the realization I have so much more to learn). The beauty of this hobby! I have a nice running list of "things I should have known/wished I knew" converting from DSLR to mono. Located 35 million light years away, this iconic trio of galaxies include the prominent
spiral galaxiesM65,
M66, as well as the barred spiral galaxy
NGC 3628, the Hamburger Galaxy. Though I only imaged this as an RBG image without separate luminance data, I was surprised to see the faint hint of the elongated tidal tail off to the right side of NGC 3628.
If I am being honest, I am thrilled with this first light image to have the hardware working and the processing familiar, though not without errors. There was certainly some trial and error on both the setup/acquisition and the processing side, but the major difference from when I first started in early 2022 was the ability to problem solve. I am encouraged that the dive into mono is going to be no more time consuming, and far more rewarding.
Of course, I haven't shot narrowband yet!
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