Mastodawn

I did a little experiment this week for funsies. Last week I posted a pic of M81 and M82 that I got with my Seestar S30, and I decided to replicate it with my best astrophotography rig (Askar 130PHQ + ASI2600MC). Obviously, there's a huge difference between the two setups, but I stuck with 60 second subs like I did on the S30, about the same integration time, exactly the same light pollution level, and processing was done with the same tools.

This gives you an idea of how much more detail is available using a scope that's ~7x larger and a better camera.

Full resolution and capture details: https://app.astrobin.com/i/c24ufh?r=0

#astronomy #astrophotography #SeestarS30

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Bluejay Mar 1

@malcircuit What a great comparison! What’s stunning about the clarity of the second one is that, along the top third of the image, I can see at least two smudges no larger than stars that appear to be very distant galaxies. Have those been identified?

While M1 and M2 are better in the second one, weirdly I think I prefer the stars in the first, which have more of a glow around them. I think stars become a bit less interesting the more they resolve into sharp pinpoints.😅

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Mallory

I have no doubt those galaxies are in an a catalog, but I have no idea what their IDs are. I'll get back to you on that.

You're not the only person to comment on the stars. I think I might have sharpened them more in the high-res image. It also makes a difference how "zoomed in" the image is. The second image is considerably higher resolution, and the stars don't look as extreme at full resolution.