Unveiling the Deer Lick Group: NGC 7331

After what felt like an eternity of cloudy nights, the skies finally cleared, offering a precious opportunity to point my Seestar S50 towards the cosmos. My target for this session was the magnificent NGC 7331, also known as the Deer Lick Group, a beautiful cluster of galaxies.

Technical Details:

• Acquisition: 2 hours of data were collected using the Seestar S50.
• Processing: The raw data was stacked and edited using Siril, with significant enhancements applied using GraXpert.

I'm particularly pleased with the results of this edit. The default stacking within the Seestar app provided a good starting point, but by taking the data into Siril and then refining it with GraXpert, I was able to bring out a level of detail that I hadn't achieved before. It's always rewarding to see the subtle structures and nuances of these distant celestial objects emerge from the data.

This image represents one of my best editing jobs to date, and it's a testament to the power of dedicated post-processing. Even with a relatively portable setup like the Seestar S50, and in a Bortle 4-5 sky, remarkable results can be achieved with careful attention to detail during the editing phase.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the Deer Lick Group!