One of these things is not like the others … I got an image of M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy in February from the lovely dark skies of Dell City, Texas. Since then, light from a supernova in one of its arms has reached us … from 20+ million light years away. And I was able to image that from my driveway! The driveway picture is noisier and dimmer due to light pollution, but you can tell there’s something new there! I’m looking forward to going back out to the dark skies and imaging it again.
Interestingly, the total imaging times of 66×3=198 minutes on 2/16 and 218 minutes on 5/25 are pretty similar, but due to the light pollution, the 5/25 image has less detail, is noisier, and is grainier. On the other hand, the tracking wasn’t as good on 2/16, emphasized by the longer image times, so the stars aren’t circles and the image isn’t as sharp as I would like.
Camera geek info (February 16 pre supernova):
- Canon EOS 60D in manual mode
- Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
- Williams Optics Flat 73A
- iOptron CEM40
- Dell City, Texas Bortle 2-3 dark skies
Frames:
- Feb 16 3 minute exposure ISO 1600
- 66 3 minute lights
- 21 0.05 second flats
- 20 0.05 second flat darks
- 20 1 minute darks
Processing geek info:
- PixInsight
Camera geek info (May 25 with supernova):
- Canon EOS 60D in manual mode
- Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
- Williams Optics Flat 73A
- SkyTech 2” LPRO-MAX CCD Filter
- iOptron CEM40
- Friendswood, Texas Bortle 7-8 suburban skies
Frames:
- May 25 1 minute exposure ISO 800
- 218 1 minute lights
- 31 0.05 second flats
- 30 0.05 second flat darks
- 49 1 minute darks
Processing geek info:
- PixInsight
Space&Aliens 