3/10/03 Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC3628

Looks like the new ST-8i is going to gobble up the galaxies! I had some trouble with the 201xt autoguider so I decided just to go ahead and shoot unguided, combining the images in CCDSoft the next day. I'm very happy to be getting decent galaxy images, and Spring is galaxy season so there will be a lot more coming. These images are undersampled, with the telescope focal ratio reduced to F6.3 and the camera binned at 2x2, the plate scale is 2.35 arcseconds per pixel. After I straighten out my guider issues I hope to get a little tighter. I especially like the dark dust lane in front of this one.