Object: M51 Date: April 19, 2004
Location: My-Spot
Observatory - West Bloomfield, Michigan (ZLM
Approx 4.0 - 18.3 mag / arcsec2)
Exposure(s): 16x 5 Min
Camera: Canon EOS
Digital Rebel (300D)
Equipement: 10" f/10 Meade OTA w/GEG
and focal reducer at f/7.5 on Losmandy G-11
Guide Scope: ETX90 OTA
and SBIG ST-4
Software &
Processing: Linear
tif files were extracted from the Canon File
Viewer Utility. Each frame was "dark
frame" subtracted from a master dark frame
made that night from 8 dark frames in Picture
Window Pro 3.5 and then roughly processed with
levels (Thats right - Levels - not curves). The
tifs were then aligned and stacked using Registar
1.0.7 and then processed and cropped using
Picture Window Pro. A pseudo flat field was made
from a stack of 8 "cloud-bottom" shots
made in the daylight that was then smoothed and
"calibrated" to the 16 image M51 stack.
Thus, the flat field was only approximate. The
flat field was then subtracted from the 16 image
stack in PWP and the final image was then tweaked
using levels and curves. There apprears to be
some "amp-glow" or thermal noise on the
right hand side of the image.
Other Notes: First light
for my new Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D) and my
first attempt to process an all digital deepspace
image.
Info: M51, also called
the Whirlpool Galaxy is at a distance of 50
million light years.
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