Humble M51 & M78 pics

I had a chance to take my little scope to the outskirts of the city,
this past weekend...

It was NOT a dark site, but time constraints did not allowed me to go
any further out... (man, mosquitoes were nasty that day!) 8O

Anyways, I managed to image M51 in Widefield mode, and M78... (both
taken in Alt-Az, so exposures are limited to about 40secs per frame)
(needless to say, I can't wait to go into POLAR mode, for much longer exposures!) 8)


Clear skies!



Ivan
8)



M51
60x40sec, Orion Starshoot, WO SD-66
Processed with Adobe Photoshop CS2

Attached Image:

Here is M78... 8)
40x40sec, Orion Starshoot, WO SD-66
Processed with Adobe Photoshop CS2

Clear skies!

Attached Image:

hi Ivan,

You captured the m51 very nicely!
considering the rather short exp.time it is great!
perhaps a bit too hard contrasted in the core region.
perhaps You might wanna try "highlight and shadows" in photoshop to hold these "burning" region down a bit.
best regards
Dietmar

Ivan, those are really unbelievable, taken AZ-Alt without guiding but I guess there is a bit of combining many images involved. But well worth it!
Tom

Very nice Ivan! Thanks for sharing.
Ken Tydeck