Joe, The galaxy is not really very dim. I should be more explicit in my description of the exposure. I exposed 60 minutes worth of luminance data.... but it was composed of 12x5-minute sub-exposures. I average the subs in Maxim DL to create a luminance image. The large number of short exposures allows the random noise to smooth out considerably. The averaged image is MUCH better (smoother and more detailed) than any of the individual subs. The color data were also composed of 5-minute subs. Does this explanation make any sense? Cheers, Tyler _______________________ -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+tylerallred=earthlink.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+tylerallred=earthlink.net@mailman.xmission.co m] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 5:33 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] New Image Posted - M106 and Friends I've had just one outing with my S-401 (I think it's called). I took views of the center of the Lagoon Nebula, which pleased me. But I know I can do much, much better. -- I'm a little surprised at the length of your exposures. Is the galaxy fairly dim? Thanks, Joe _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com