NGC 5985

NGC 5985 - Spiral Seyfert Galaxy in Draco

Higher Resolution: 1590x1062 pixels

 

Image Type: Monochrome Constellation: Draco
Telescope: 10" Aries f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on Astro-Physics 900GTO German Equatorial Object: SAB(r)b Galaxy
Focal Length: 2642mm Distance: 120 million light years
Resolution: 0.53"/pixel (imaged) Dimensions: 5.5'x3.0'
Accessories: Moravian G1-0300 as Off-Axis Guider, 0.67X Astro-Physics CCD Telecompressor Magnitude: 11.87
CCD: QSI 532wsg, running at -20 deg. C    
Exposures: 25x5 min

Aries MCT in Malvazinky Observatory
Filter(s): Astrodon Clear
Exposure Date: 25-26 May 2011
Location: Malvazinky Observatory in Prague, Czech Republic
Seeing, FWHM: 1.7"
Processing Software: MaximDL, PixInsight, Photoshop
Image Acquisition Software: MaximDL, TheSky6, CCDAutoPilot, FocusMax, PinPoint
Remarks:

Shot with 33% central obstruction baffle which successfully minimized all the stray light and flat field problems (as with NGC 5907). Stacked and calibrated in PixInsight. No deconvolution was used because SNR was low.

PixInsight:
* Calibrate using Vincent Peris procedure.
* Register.
* Batch debloom in MaximDL and integrate in PixInsight. (PI lacks deblooming tool.)
* Automatic Background Extraction to remove gradient.
* Clone image, mild Histogram Transform on the clone, generate star mask, delete clone.
* Histogram transform on the main image.
* Wavelet HDR to bring dark structure out - without star mask.
* A Trous Wavelet Transform with K Sigma Clipping to reduce noise (with star mask).
* Re-use NGC5907 GRADIENT mask to perform corner erosion: fix stars at the very corners. (Camera tilt?)

Photoshop:
* Levels, denoise faint galaxy outer arms.
* Resize (smooth gradient).

       
 
 

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