M33 - The Pinwheel Galaxy
Description: M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy, is located in the constellation of Triangulum. This image was taken on July 27, 2008 at the Table Mountain Star Party between Ellensburg and Wenatchee in central Washington. I didn't really set out to take this picture. M33 is too large for this imaging setup and, as you can see, it doesn't fully fit in the frame. I started out the evening on the Iris Nebula and conditions were in the mid 30s Fahrenheit and windy. After I started the Iris exposures, I went into the motorhome took a nap until the run finished. When I came out around 2:00am, I fully intended to close up the observatory tent, but it had warmed up and the wind had died down. With the deteriorating weather forecast, I didn't want to waste the clear sky. I had noticed that Triangulum had risen and was high enough to take a shot at M33, so I did. I am happy with this shot, but I will want to go back and get it at a shorter focal length so I can fit the whole thing.
Equipment: The image was taken with an 8" Meade LX200ACF telescope on a Celestron CGE mount. The camera was an SBIG ST10XME with an Astro-Physics .67 Telecompressor and Astrodon filters. The guide scope and camera were an AstroTech AT66ED refractor with an SBIG remote guide head attached to the ST10. Focusing was done with an Optec TCF-S focuser with temperature compensation turned off.
Exposures: 18x180 seconds luminance binned 1x1; 8x180 seconds red, 9x180 seconds green and 9x180 seconds blue exposures binned 2x2.
Processing: Bias, dark & flat calibration, image registration & color registration were done in Maxim/DL. Curves, levels, LRGB combination, zone sharpening & noise reduction were done in Photoshop CS2. Gradient processing was done with GradientXTerminator.
Click on image for full resolution.