A whale of a galaxy

[RickJ]

NGC 4631 is a really odd galaxy, interacting with the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656) and the little elliptical above it (NGC4627). A friend of mine who was in the Navy calls it the Submarine Galaxy. Looks more like a porpoise to me.

14" LX200R, L=4x10' binned 2x2, RGB=2x10' binned 3x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

[JAICOA]

A Very odd and beautiful galaxy, Very sharp and detailed and lots of fuzzies could be easily be seen. Another super fine shot Rick.

[ravens_cry]

It still boggles my brain, if life is as common in that galaxy as it is here, I may be looking at PEOPLE! It just blows me away.

[andyschlei]

Rick,

Another great image. Beautiful detail in the dust clouds and perfect color balance.

Can I ask what your processing toolkit is? What software do you use?

Clear skies,

--Andy

[winensky]

It looks like your weather is begining to cooperate and your off and running again. Another beautifully resolved image.

Kind regards
Matt

[RickJ]

Rick,

Another great image. Beautiful detail in the dust clouds and perfect color balance.

Can I ask what your processing toolkit is? What software do you use?

Clear skies,

--Andy

Just CCDSoft for taking and calibration and Photoshop CS for everything else.

Rick

[RickJ]

It looks like your weather is begining to cooperate and your off and running again. Another beautifully resolved image.

Kind regards
Matt

It's more that I'm learning to deal with moonlight gradients. I only get clear skies with a big bright moon in the sky. If the moon sets the clouds roll in. I'm just now able to cope with those gradients in my processing. So now I'm going back and processing data I couldn't before.

I had the time to practice as that #$&@! meter plus of snow we got kept us trapped for nearly a week. TV dish was under snow and the DVD player died, internet was intermittent as was the phone and power came from the generator. Not much to do but learn how to handle the moon gradients! Until I took a screen door off its hinges we couldn't even open the door! I have a few more coming. But a windy 10C day followed by two more without wind melted enough of the snow so we are free again but lots of work to do. One car ended up under a tree that couldn't take the snow load. Think it is salvageable once I cut the tree away. Today was the first I had enough cleared to even see what happened to that car.

Rick

[stargazer_7000]

great result Rick! amazing 2x2 binning in lum and yet great resolution!
very well done!

[RickJ]

great result Rick! amazing 2x2 binning in lum and yet great resolution!
very well done!

2x2 binning gives me 1" pixels (1.003" to be exact) and my seeing on this one was just under 3". I'd gain nothing at 1x1 binning. My seeing just doesn't support it. Also I'd just be starting to collect photons at 40 minutes with those "tiny" 1x1 pixels. This winter I've never had more than a couple hours of clear skies at a time. I have to collect photons fast this year.

Rick

[mahesh]

Rick, your composition is so beautiful!

Every time I attend at BAUT, I have to have a look-see at your 'porpoise'!

Thanks for sharing.

Good luck with your 'photons' collection, too.
your phraseology is tickling

[evan.aavso]

Great image of the Whale! Possibly one of the greatest images I have ever seen, keep it up!

[bunker9603]

Man that is awesome!

[chrissy]

love this one Rick thank you for sharing it.

clear skies.

chrissy

[mugaliens]

It still boggles my brain, if life is as common in that galaxy as it is here, I may be looking at PEOPLE! It just blows me away.

Well, you might be looking at life. We're "people," but technically they're not.

Then again, that raises an interesting comparison. We're human. But they may still be "good people."

What are people?

Time to start a new thread....

[clop]

RickJ your images almost make me want to cry with impotence.

[tvdavis]

You've been busy! Another nice one!

Tom