M33 - Two Views

Dan Kowall had recently posted an M33 with a HA enhancement. Here is my offering (only witout the HA).

I have taken two images of M33. The first image is a "North Up" presentation. The second image is a close up with the presentation rotated 90 degrees to get the full object in the FOV.

I have attached mid sized image of the close-up (rotated) view, but the full size of the first image as well as exposure and processing details can be accessed at:

http://jthommes.com/Astro/m33.htm

The second (close-up) image shows the best resolution on object detail. Its on the same page, but it can be accessed directly at:

http://jthommes.com/Astro/m33.htm#M33-2

First image L:R:G:B - 30:9:9:9.
Second image L:R:G:B - 50(2 scopes):7:7:7

Attached Image:

Great shot Jimmy. You are going from strength to strength with your imaging.

Greg.

Greg and Stefan,
Thanks for the comments on the images.

Stefan,
I am not sure which image (or both) you are referring to on the star halos. But I have a couple of theories - the images were taken on different nights and as near as I could tell pretty clear skies.

1. The wider field shot was made with a refractor (Megrez) and a SCT f/6.3 reducer. This combo is likely to give some poorer color correction an so the wideband Luminance exposure will likely "defocus the stars.

2. The close up shot was made with a C8 and FR3.3 - the CCD is really too large for this set up and there is heinous coma on the edges. I correct this with a second luminance shot (with less detail / depth) from the 80mm refractor. This genearlly causes softer stars on the edges for this image. (But it's 1000% better than the coma from the C8/FR on the edges). The reason I torture myself with such a convoluted exposure/processing is the really good data I get in the center 2/3rds of the image from the C8/FR3.3.

Breathtaking detail Jim!
I think I like the larger scale shot better, as it show more of the galaxy detail... great shot!

Beautiful work Jim! I really like this object.... it is very photogenic!

Thanks Ivan, Charles, Tyler for the comments on the M33 image.