M101 Galaxy

M101 is one of my favorite galaxies. I have always dreamed of imaging it one night. This is a fulfillment of that dream. My fascination with M101 was sparked by a Sky & Telescope magazine article about it. I first viewed it in 2006 at Caliraya during my participation on the yearly Messier Marathon. That time, I found myself stuck at the eyepiece drinking the majestic view of the galaxy, briefly forgetting that it was a marathon. I had the opportunity to image it last February at Spring of Life Adventure Camp and boy, was I very glad! This is a re-processed image from that night.

3 minutes X 10 frames

Canon EOS 400D at ISO 800

Megrez 90FD at FL=558mm

21 February 2009

Buso-buso, Antipolo City

M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

This is again a re-processed image from our session last 21 February 2009. I tried adjusting the colors and saturation resulting in a somewhat pale image compared to my initial M83 image. Details are:

3 minutes X 6 frames exposure

Canon EOS 400D at ISO 800

Megrez 90FD at FL 558mm

21 February 2009

Buso-buso, Antipolo City

Horsehead & Flame Nebula

I re-processed the Horsehead & Flame Nebula last night using the newly discovered features of IRIS. The dynamic & asinh strecthing proved to be useful in bringing out faint details. Here, I allowed the bright stars to saturate to coax as much faint details as possible.
Details of the image:
3 minutes X 14 frames exposure
Canon EOS 400D at ISO 800
Megrez 90FD at FL=558mm
Calibration/Stacking=IRIS
Touch-up=Photoshop CS/NeatImage
31 January 2009/Caliraya, Laguna