Sunflower Galaxy (M63) in RGB

Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
The Sunflower Galaxy is the 63rd object in the Messier Catalog and is located in the Canes Venatici constellation, at an approximate distance of 29 Mly away from us. Is it is believed to be home to 400 billion stars (more than our Milky Way). With no easily identifiable spiral arms this galaxy is classified as a flocculent galaxy.

This was imaged with RGB filters for a total integration time of a little over 2 and a half hours. The orientation was exactly 'wrong' resulting in the vertically oriented version. I had intended to get more dfata on this, but ran out of time with the monsoon weather coming in. As always and comments and/or critiques are most welcome.

LRCC_sRGB_FW_M63_RGB_BN_ArcS_HT_CT_LHE_SCNR_NXT.jpg


Equipment:
ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -10C and Gain:139 Offset:21 (LRGB)
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 SCT with 0.7x reducer, 1645mm @ f/7

Software:
PHD2 Guiding Software
NINA Astroimaging Software
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Software Bisque TheSkyX
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
Russell Croman BlurXterminator
Russell Croman StarXterminator
Russell Croman NoiseXterminator

Light Frames:
Red: 11 x 300 secs (55 mins)
Green: 9 x 300 secs (45 mins)
Blue: 11 x 300 secs (55 mins)

2 hrs 35 mins total

Dark Frames:
10 x 300 secs, RGB (50 mins)

Bias Frames:
60
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
That's a lot of detail for just 2.5 hours. I sure like it, though I think it could use more saturation to bring the colors out some more? At first glance the galaxy feels white.
 
Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
JimFox said:
That's a lot of detail for just 2.5 hours. I sure like it, though I think it could use more saturation to bring the colors out some more? At first glance the galaxy feels white.
Click to expand...

Yes, well I would say I did struggle with the colors of the galaxy. It seemed to be overly blue, and so I probably overcompensated trying to fix that aspect of it. You may be right, I'll have to see if tweaking the saturation is an improvement.
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
I like the increase in saturation. It still feels natural, but it's a bit more pleasing to the eye I think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom