NGC 1365

Object Details:

Designation: NGC 1365 Constellation: Fornax
Visual magnitude: +9.6 Apparent size: 12′ x 6′
Diameter: 197,000 light years. Distance: 56 million light years

This wonderful barred spiral is a member of the Fornax cluster of galaxies. It is comparable in size to our Milky Way, although it has a more pronounced bar than our galaxy has.

It took me a while to get SharpCap stacking the frames and I ended up with only about a forty-six minute exposure before the target was clouded out.

My policy is to publish my images, warts and all. This one came out best in black and white format. Maybe next year I’ll spend a bit more time and effort in getting a better image of this galactic gem.

Technical stuff:

Image & Processing:

Date: 2019-11-19 Exposure: 20 x 86 sec = 28.6 min. Gain: 200 Sky brightness: 1.43 e/pixel/sec .	Location: outer suburban. Cloud: 0% deteriorating to 90% . Moon: no. Conditions: Bushfire haze, windy.
Image acquisition: SharpCap. Method: Live stacked. Darks: 6x	Image post-processing: GIMP. Cropping: yes.

Gear:

Telescope:	SkyWatcher Esprit	Type:	120 triplet refractor
Focal:	840 mm F/7	Mount:	SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Camera:	ZWO ASI 071 MC Pro	Type:	CMOS 28.4mm 16 Mpx
Optical aids:	Flattener: Y; filter: LP	Guiding:	Yes
Polar aligning:	QHYCCD PoleMaster	Polar Error:	3’ 27”

Geek Log:

[ZWO ASI071MC Pro]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=4944×3284
Colour Space=RAW16
Hardware Binning=Off
Turbo USB=40
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=8 fps
Gain=200
Exposure=85.885997
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=50
White Bal (R)=53
Brightness=4
Temperature=-10
Cooler Power=73
Target Temperature=-10
Cooler=On
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000

Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Anti Dew Heater=On
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\SharpCap Captures\darks\ZWO ASI071MC Pro\RAW16@4944×3284\85.9s\gain_0\dark_6_frames_-10.0C_2019-11-19T11_04_44.fits
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0.5
#White Point
Display White Point=1
TimeStamp=2019-11-19T12:26:53.2692320Z
SharpCapVersion=3.2.6086.0
TotalExposure(s)=1717.71994
StackedFrames=20