We have been blessed/cursed by a very dry Djeran / Autumn period. Cursed because no rain after a long, hot Bunuru( Second Summer) and blessed because the nights are cold, and very clear.
This and @rdm having to be on Munich time for a few days prompted some enthusiastic astrophotography sessions ahead of the news that the clouds were finally coming to us with some rain.
We figured that we'd do a lot of astrophotography, and then write it up and share photos during the rainy cloudy bits to keep us going.
So here we are - this is my first post about it, and it's about the last day of the clear sky.
We have here NGC 4945 or Caldwell 83 - also known as the Tweezers Galaxy (I personally think it looks more like an orange peeler).
I was leafing through Astronomy Australia 2025 and found it as a target for May. I hadn't come across this galaxy before, and was thrilled to find a galaxy that's a big enough apparent size to suit my #dwarf3
These are great books and the last of this great almanac that they'll publish, after 30 years - so get yours today - https://quasarastronomy.com.au/product/astronomy-2025/ even though it's a yearbook it's still going to be useful down the track. If you're in Australia or close enough. #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy folks. I grabbed some of their back catalogue - incredibly cheap and plenty of interesting stuff in there, if only historically. 🙂
So, anyway, back to the galaxy - I plonked the #SmartTelescope on the roof later in the evening so it's only a few hours exposure. Gain was 80, exposure was 60. Got a few hundred frames in two sessions as I belatedly realised that I should get the telescope to shut down before the closest Sun made itself apparent.
So then, in the morning @rdm ran me through the Mega Stack and Stellar Studio provided through Infinity Lab within the telescope, which was super easy, and then I did some cropping in Snapseed.
And this is the result, I hope you enjoy!
#Astrodon #Astronomy #BackyardAstrophotography #DrivewayAstrophotography #Galaxy
