September 9 , 2007
Observatory Hill, Victoria, BC, Canada

Using my unmodified Canon 30D mounted prime focus on my Meade LX200R operating at f/10 and only 16 images has produced an acceptable photo of these two galaxies. Further work on this object will have to wait until I can acquire more images, however I'm pleased to see considerable detail in the larger galaxy, and some striking colour and shape in the smaller galaxy. This is also the first time I have resolved detail in the arms.

Details:
Telescope: Meade LX200R 8" operating at f/10 mounted Alt/Az
Unmodified Canon 30D mounted at prime focus
Exposures: 16 images at 60 sec
ISO 3200, Custom white balance
Processing:
ImagesPlus: digital development of Canon Raw to FITS, dark, flat & bias frames applied. Luminance derived from the green channel to reveal more detail. RGB colour derived from Daylight colour balance. Very aggressive Digital Development, and conversion of final image to 48 bit TIFF for further processing.
Corel PhotoPaint X3: midtone stretch, saturation increase, convert to 24 bit RGB, image size reduction, crop and spot image, and conversion to jpg.