2nd April

M82 Some frames from 28th March
Total of 19x10minutes
Sky conditions variable - brief moments of good seeing but mostly hazy high level cloud.





3rd April

While waiting for M82 to pass the meridian, I trained the scope on ngc 2403 and took 5 10 minute frames.
This is a large galaxy, and was strangely missed by Messier when he drew up his list of bright objects.
ngc 2403 is well worth more imaging.



More frames of M82 taken. The sky was very clear, and the frames were much better quality than those from previous nights.
Total of good frames is now 26x10 minutes.



Now up to 7 hours in 10 minute frames on M82.
Any further work is unlikely to produce much improvement.
This processing is less aggressive than the previous.
The next task will be to image the area between M81 and M82 and construct a mosaic.




8th April
Another clear sky last night enabled me to image the space between M81 and M82.
This mosaic provides a wide-angle view of the two galaxies.



ngc2403 is a low brightness galaxy. Total time is now 24x10 minutes, but the skies have not been
as transparent as 3rd April, so the extra frames do not make a huge difference.





12th April
The Moon is getting in the way of things so I tried a fairly bright planetary nebula.
ngc2392 otherwise known as the Eskimo Nebula
(5x10 minutes)





22nd April
M65 and M66, two galaxies of the 'Leo Triplet'.
At last the sky conditions improved and there were some good breaks between clouds.
8x10 minutes
M66 is at the left.






25th April

10x10 minutes taken of NGC 3628 to complete the Leo Triplet




28th April

10 more frames of NGC 3628 added.



29th April

More frames on M65 and M66. Total is now 20x10 mnutes.
More colour showing in the galaxies.








M81 and M82 final version, click the right hand icon below the image for fullscreen zoom




Final Leo Triplet - zoomable