Bode's Galaxy Under a Full Moon: A Bortle 5 Challenge
Recently, I decided to dust off an old Omegon 80/400 apochromatic refractor I found in my attic. My goal? To see what kind of deep-sky wonders I could capture with it, even under less-than-ideal conditions. This particular session involved a Bortle 5 sky and, you guessed it, a full moon. Not exactly the recipe for perfect deep-sky astrophotography, but I was curious!
The Setup and the Struggle
My equipment for this adventure consisted of:
- Camera: Canon 4000D
- Telescope: Omegon 80/400 apochromatic refractor
- Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i
- Filter: IR cut filter
The Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i is a fantastic portable mount, but it definitely had its work cut out for it with the 400mm focal length. I managed to secure about 7 hours of data over a couple of nights, using 90-second exposures at ISO 1600. Despite the mount's struggles, I was pleased to find that roughly 60% of my exposures turned out usable.
Processing the Data
Bringing this image to life involved a multi-step processing workflow:
- Acquisition: Captured 7 hours of data (90s exposures, ISO 1600).
- Calibration & Stacking: Performed using Siril.
- Star Removal: Utilized Starnet++ to isolate the galaxy.
- Gradient Removal & Enhancement: Graxpert was employed for these crucial steps.
- Final Touches: GIMP was used for the final color balancing and sharpening.
The Result
Despite the full moon washing out some of the fainter details and the star adventurer's persistence in fighting against it, I'm quite pleased with how Bode's Galaxy turned out. It's a testament to the fact that you can still achieve compelling results even when the conditions aren't perfect. Sometimes, the challenge itself leads to a more rewarding outcome!
What are your thoughts on this image? Let me know in the comments below!
