
To dither or not to dither?
I have two similar sessions on the galaxy NGC3628, the ‘dimmer’ member of the Leo Triplet. One session was done without dithering, the second session with dithering. So maybe it’s educational to really compare the two results and verify what the effect is of dithering?


The difference in background noise should be clear.
To be complete: the dithered image was 54x300s or 4hrs 30m exposure, while the non-dithered image was only 36x300s or 3 hours of exposure. Both nights were equal in quality.
An intermediate NGC3628
This galaxy is the third member of the Leo triplet. During the last nights I could image this with the Esprit120mm and the ASI183MM Pro. This intermediate result is L-filter 6hr36m of data processed in APP and cropped. Best seen by clicking on the image!

NGC3628 ASI183mm Pro + Esprit 120mm + SW Flattener + No Reducer, No Filter
And below is the equivalent image taken with the Nikon D750 DSLR. I had a lot of noise in this 3hrs picture (36x300s), I suspect something went wrong with the dithering. The tidal stream is just visible.
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