Situated at RA. 00 hours 47.6 mins and declination -25 17, this
awe inspiring galaxy, NGC-253 in the constellation of Sculptor
is about 20 x 3 arc minutes in angular size and was
captured using our renowned frame accumulation video camera "the
GSTAR-EX2. The telescope used was the 12-inch (304mm)
Sky-Watcher Newtonian telescope on
EQ6-Pro equatorial mount.
A focal reducer the
ProStar low profile 0.5X c-mount to 1.25 inch was coupled to
a
BrightStar 5 way 1.25 -in filter wheel fitted with the
ProStar LRGB filter set.
Video is without
doubt the most easy-to-use medium for viewing and recording the
night sky. One can easily see what is going on directly on a
computer monitor or TV monitor (in real-time or virtual
real-time) when focusing and even moving the telescope. You can
orient the camera to your preferred perspective as shown above
(diagonal view) to fit the subject on the screen the way you
like it. The GSTAR-EX2 camera was set at X256 frame integration
mode for this image and most was captured through thin random
passing cloud. In fact, simply studying the live on screen view of this galaxy
was mesmerising.. even in black & white.
The above image
was captured using our Australian made GSTAR-EX Capture V4
software and later compiled using 400 (unfiltered Luminance exposures) and 200
Red, Green and Blue exposures stacked in Registax 5.1 then later
compiled as LRGB 24-bit image in Adobe PhotoShop CS2. The
Sky-Watcher 12-inch f/4.9 Newtonian has a primary focal length
of 1500mm so fitting the Silver Coin galaxy on the cameras CCD
required the use of a focal reducer as linked above.
If you want to learn
more about just how effective frame accumulation CCD video
cameras work today then check out the ultimate reference book on
the topic...
Deep Sky Video Astronomy which includes all the tips,
shortcuts and advice to get the most from your telescope with
this kind of short exposure technology.
Image by: Steve Massey October
2011
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