Stellar Shot of the Week: July 30, 2021
"Messier 106" - by Stan Smith

Congratulations to this week's Stellar Shot selection, which goes to the prolific Stan Smith! Stan and his SVX130 are probably best known to our regulars for the stunning narrowband work he puts out, but unsurprisingly he is just as good at broadband imaging as well! One of the things we always enjoy about Stan's images is the consistency with which he processes his material, and somehow he's managed to bring a similar pallet to this shot of the galaxy known as Messier 106. This image is often processed in such a way that it comes out feeling like it has a cooler tint rather than the warmth we see here, and of course it has Stan's impressive wealth of deatils brought out through expert processing.

Stan gallery on Astrobin gets more impressive every time we check it out too, so we recommend you head over that way and give his account a follow (username "stan29693"). Please also make sure to submit your own images to us by email (mail@stellarvue.com) or by tagging them on social media with #stellarvue and #stellarshot.

The technical details of this shot are as follows:

• Imaging telescope: Stellarvue SVX130T
• Imaging camera: ATIK 490 EX Mono
• Mount: iOptron GEM45
• Guiding camera: Starlight Express Lodestar X2 Autoguider
• Focal reducer/field flattener: Stellarvue SFFX-1 Flattener
• Software: Photoshop 2020, Sequence Generator PRO, ClickDesignSoft Autoscript for Pixinsight, Pixinsight, PHD2
• Filters: Chroma technology R/G/B 36mm
• Accessories: ZWO Off-Axis Guider, ZWO EFW 36mm 7 Positions, SkyShed Roll-off