M104 Sombrero Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

Full Size Image

Techno Stuff: 5/13/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, IR 40 minutes total with 8 min subs binning 1x1, RGB 15 minutes total each with 5 min. subs binning 2x2, Autoguided with Atik-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2.

Notes: The IR (Infared/UV blocking filter) frames turned out very well. However, the RGB (red, green, blue filtered) frames suffered from heavy light pollution gradients which CCDStack took care of surprisingly well allowing me to come up with a decent final image. I like doing LRGB processing and plan on doing more with fairly bright objects like M104.

M16 The Eagle Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

Full Size Image

Techno Stuff: 6/26/07 ATK-16hr, Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm, 80 minutes total with 20min subs, Binning 1x1, Autoguided with Atik-2HS and Guidedog from LX90, Darks Applied, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight, Image Analyzer

Notes: There was every reason in the world why this image should not have come to be. The night was murky and foggy, the object was at a low altitude (33 degrees), I forgot to plug in my dew strap so each exposure taken left the Megrez objective more and more fogged up. So frankly, I think I deserve a little applause for ending up with a halfway decent image. :>D