StarTools

Some clear nights , no moon and stable atmospheric conditions allowed me to image NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy ( aka Silver Coin Galaxy) under Bortle 8 skies with my humble 6” f6 GSO newt
Located approximately 11 million light years from Earth
Magnitude 8.2
ZWO 2600MC cooled to -10C , Gain 100
200 x 90 sec dithered guided subs ( over 2 nights )
40 x Flats
60 x Bias
No filters ( just the 2600MC internal UV/ IR cut protective window)
EQ6-R pro mount
TS Optics GPU coma corrector
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( 0.50 to 0.60 arc sec total )
EQMOD, Stellarium, APT
Processed in DSS
Processed in Startools V1.8 OSC linear data set
Used the SV Decon module with mixed success

Original frame version
Crop version
1st stretch in AutoDev to show what I have to deal with under Bortle 8 ( heavy biased gradient )

Comments welcome
Thanks

Here’s a reprocess I just completed using Bin 35% to improve SNR ( original image was Bin 60% )
It allowed SV Decon to produce a slightly better result and improve the overall image IMO

Thanks

Great job!

What a cool object. And it's not even galaxy season!

I wouldn't mind having a little more reach with a Newt, or aperture for that matter, but it still looks like it frames up fair enough, although not as good of resolution as yours. But...pretty far to the south. Max of alt 30 at transit, and right now only at 3 in the morning. So, a tough window even without all the extinction.

I'm impressed by your 5 hours. I don't know how much I could soak up at my f/3.8 if I took a flyer at it, but this is one I must try to remember. For November.

Mike in Rancho wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 4:28 am Great job!

What a cool object. And it's not even galaxy season!

I wouldn't mind having a little more reach with a Newt, or aperture for that matter, but it still looks like it frames up fair enough, although not as good of resolution as yours. But...pretty far to the south. Max of alt 30 at transit, and right now only at 3 in the morning. So, a tough window even without all the extinction.

I'm impressed by your 5 hours. I don't know how much I could soak up at my f/3.8 if I took a flyer at it, but this is one I must try to remember. For November.

Thanks Mike
Under Bortle 8 skies you only get a small window of opportunity during the new moon period ( hoping for clear nights ) to image dim galaxies.I might add that a 6”f6 Newt is not exactly a Galaxy Hunter at only 900mm of focal length
The 2 nights were superb seeing and dry ( no dew ) so maximised the opportunity
Clear Skies
Martin