Waxing Moon 29th May 2015

Shot through light cloud, I took 35 images with my Canon 40d @ 1/160 sec ISO 100 with Mirror lockup. The scope was my ED80 with no filter. The 35 images were stacked in AutoStakkert and finished in Photoshop CC.

The image below is a single unstacked image processed only in Photoshop. It gives a less detailed image probably due to the extra noise reduction.

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy. My favourite Galaxy!!

M51a (or NGC 5194) was discovered in 1773 by Charles Messier.

It is about 25 million light years away.

M51a is only 35% the size of our galaxy (the Milky Way) and is about 38,000 light years in diameter.

Made up of two Galaxies, the small galaxy called M51b (or NGC 5195) passed though M51a disturbing it around 550 million years ago and is still seen interacting with it today.

The image was captured with just 11 minutes of data using my ED80 DS PRO refractor attached to a prime focused Canon 40d.

21 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO 1600.
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker with dark, flat and bias frames.
Finished in Photoshop CC.

Here is a wider field of view

My plan in the future is to introduce guiding using a guide scope to increase the exposure time to get more data.

Messier 13 (M13) The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules

This is my first attempt at a deep sky object using my new Skywatcher 80ED DS Pro refractor attached to a Canon 40D. 15 x 30 second images @ iso 1600 were stacked in DSS.
M13 contains an amazing 300,000 stars and is 22.2 million light years away.
Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714 it is an enormous 145 light years in diameter.
By the way, 1 light year is about 6 trillion miles.
A faint side on spiral galaxy, named NGC 6207 is far left of the image and is between 30 and 45 million light years away.