Galaxies in Leo

Hi Gang !

This pair of Galaxies in Leo(M66/65) is a must do for Astrophotographers!

With there dusty lanes amongst the intricate spiral structure, to there subtle colours, and lying at a distance of 31 million LY and at about mag 10,there always a challenge.

It's interesting to note that the Leo trio was over looked by Messier who was busy observing a comet in 1773 which passed directly through the field on November the 2nd(must of been one hell of a comet!) consequently they were descovered by Mechain in March 1780.

I shot this through the ZS 110 with the SXV-H9C and guided on an AP600E mount out at Magellen Observatory 200km south of Sydney a couple of months back.

Exposures were 12 x 10 minutes and AA3 was used to capture,align&combine and CS2 for all post processing.

I hope you enjoy

Attached Image:

Louie, that is very nice. I am impressed with the lovely detail you have captured. Good work!
David E

Wonderful shot Louie!
Gotta love the detail you pulled from the galaxies... well done! 8)

Thanks for sharing!

Louie,

You've captured wonderful detail indeed in both galaxies! Color-wise, the masters usually depict M66's dust lanes as a gun-metal blue, while M65's arms are usually depicted in a shade of yellow-brown.

Try this: select one of the galaxies with the lasso or polygonal selection tool. Do an Image/Adjust/Auto Color. I've found that this method *somewhat* shows what the galaxy's colors might look, and esthetically when I do this I often (not always!) find the results to be pretty pleasing.

If you do accept the color change, you can also change the magnitude of the adjustment by doing an Edit/Fade Auto Color (this option is available only immediately after the adjustment). I also found just recently that in the Fade dialog, changing the Blend Mode to Color does wonders. Give it a try and see if you like it.

Eric

Hi Louie,
It must have been a mesmerizing comet for him to have overlooked this pair!

Nice work on your image,they do make a great couple.
You captured very good detail in both.
The color does appear to be a bit Magenta on my display,I wonder if it could stand to have the green mixed in a bit stronger?
I say this only to try and be of help

Nice work,

Jason