M51 the Whirlpool and the Leo Triplet with an SCT and DSLR

[charles-felder]

Here's my attempt at M51 with a C9.25 @f10. I used a modded Canon T2i and this is the result of 40 exposures at 300 seconds guided.
Also my Leo Triplet with the C9.25 @ f6.3. 60 exposures at 180 seconds unguided.

[edward-fraini]

Thanks for posting, I would be interested in how you processed the images, just stacking??

Ed

[charles-felder]

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker. Stretched the curves, adjusted the white balance and removed gradient in Photoshop. That's about all I did to them. The 550d I use is modded to full spectrum so the white balance has to be corrected.

[marcelo -barbosa]

Nicely done...!

[steve-fung]

Great set of images! I have a C9.25 and Nikon D800 setup and use similar image post-processing steps, but need to learn how to remove gradient from Photoshop. Maybe it is the older software version (Photoshop 7.0) that make gradients appear uneven, so tend not to use it. Having a dark site also helps - hard to do this from my backyard. Thanks for sharing!