M100 and friends (Norman Hey)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com) · Contains: IC 3313 · IC 783 · M 100 · NGC 4312 · NGC 4321 · NGC 4323 · NGC 4328 · NGC 4379 · NGC 4396 · NGC 4405

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M100 and friends

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M100 and friends

A bit off centre stage of the Virgo galaxy parade, but a very nice face-on spiral, with a large supporting cast. I am happy to get a decent result; this is the first target for my repaired objective lens. No definitive diagnosis was offered, but the lens was inspected, cleaned, resealed and interferometrically tested, apparently. Certainly it seems to perform as expected. Any imperfections in this image are due to guiding, PA and a trial of a Hotech field flattener. I really have a hard time analyzing the difference changing the backfocal distance has on the corner stars. Anything from 60 to 70 plus millimeters still shows some flaring and no real difference to my eye across the range. Nothing comes close to looking like it might be too far, assuming the diagram I have is correct ( cones pointing to the centre radially inside, more linear star images forming more of a circular pattern?) All attempts at adjustment and evaluation start with focussing with a Bahtinov mask on stars in the centre of the field, then trying to analyze the corners. It is certainly an improvement on images without the flattener, but by no means perfect. Am I asking too much of this? My big worry is that if I bite the bullet and go for the A-P version (when it comes available), will I have tight stars to the corners or will I have just spent a bundle and not gotten much better than the Hotech results? Not much out there in the forums on this one.

Data over two nights, processed in PI

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	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4391973
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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M100 and friends

M100 and friends

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M100 and friends

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