On my journey of testing the limits of the Dwarf 3 smart telescope, I set out to image the familiar M81 / M82 pairing, fully expecting the usual moonlight compromises: gradients, elevated background, and a constant risk of crushing faint detail during processing.
What surprised me wasn’t the main targets. It was what quietly emerged around them once the integration time really piled up.
After stacking on device and processing in Stellar Studio, I started scanning the frame as usual and noticed a few extremely subtle, consistent smudges that didn’t look like random noise. A quick check against charts confirmed it: faint galaxies I genuinely didn’t expect to see from Bortle 6 skies with the Moon near full;and a mighty tiny smart telescope.
In addition to M81 (center), M82 (above), and NGC 3077 (down-left), you can also make out:
– NGC 2959
– NGC 2961
And then the biggest “wait… WHAT?” moment: UGC 5210, a galaxy listed around magnitude 14.88, showed up as a faint but unmistakable patch. From Bortle 6, with the Moon near full. That’s the kind of thing that makes you sit back and re-check everything because it feels like it shouldn’t be possible. 🤯
Capture details:
– Exposure: 60s, Gain: 50
– Two sessions: ~9.5h + ~7h
– Total integration: 15h 14m
– Conditions: Bortle 6, near-full Moon
– Calibration: FITS lights + matching darks
Processing so far (quick pass):
– Stellar Studio mega-stack + auto edit
– Snapseed quick finishing touches on iPhone
Next step is a “serious” reprocess in Siril + GraXpert (gradient control, careful stretching, keep the faint galaxies intact). I’m still learning how to use those tools, not easy I admit. If anyone has a favorite workflow for moonlit galaxy fields, please share.
And a direct ask: Trevor (AstroBackyard), if you happen to be on here, would you be open to connecting? Been following your site for some time. Thank you for what you do. I’d love to learn how you’d approach processing a dataset like this. Thanks in advance!
by AstroFanM31
2 Comments
I understood absolutely nothing from what you wrote but holy cow! What a great shot!
I am glad that this sub or whatever the r/ things are called popped on my screen because of all these beautiful images.
Awesome stuff.
All I see written is gobbldy goop but looks amazing