I had originally aimed for a full colour image of this spectacular galaxy, but the unreliable springtime weather in Metro Vancouver coerced me into pursuing another goal. By mid-April, I could produce only a noisy, grainy colour image. I finally decided to purchase a used, only cosmetically damaged, ZWO
ASI294MM Pro monochrome camera that was available on astrobuysell.com at a good price. The result of a single night of imaging on a rare, clear night with good seeing, blew me away – even revealing the edge-on spiral galaxy in the lower-right corner. I do hope someday to have an equally crisp, full-colour image, but I’m putting this one forward as a testament to what a monochrome camera can achieve on a single, short night of imaging.
Telescope: Celestron 200mm Edge HD with 0.7 reducer (focal length: 1350mm)
Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI294MM Pro cooled to 0oC
Filters: 2” Optolong L-Pro
Controller: ASIAIR Plus
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop
Imaging Used: 121 of 240 x 1 minute subimages (gain = 120) with L-Pro filter.
Integration:2 hours
Date: April 13, 2023.