M104

The Sombrero Galaxy, located in Virgo, is a nearly edge-on galaxy with a mag of 8.6 and a size of 8.7' x 3.5'. For northern viewers, it is still quite low in the southern skies, peaking at 49 deg in altitude from Central Florida. This shot represents a first attempt to barlow the Newtonian to approximately f/8 (not calculated). Despite almost 140 minutes, it still requires more to smooth out the fainter regions. This shot was taken at Chiefland during the May new moon.

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Image info:

10" Homemade Newtonian on a Losmandy Titan Mount

Starlight Express
SXV-H9C

69x2 mins

f/8 with Barlow

Acquired in Astroart and processed in Maxim as an RGB image (no darks and no flats)

guided with an STV on a piggybacked Sky90 refractor

5.6.05

Chiefland