trevboyd

Fantastic image, Trevor - loads of detail in there! Well done, Trev

Great image, Gordon - lovely colours and well resolved right to the centre :-) Trev

Thanks, Bob :-) DBE is "Dynamic Background Extraction" in PixInsight LE - it effectively subtracts the sky glow from the background to remove gradients, etc. Having looked again, I agree - the 2nd is a nicer image even with the gradient. Trev

Great detail there - love the deep orange/red colours :-) Trev

It's been a long time since I last posted anything - a combination of clouds, new jobs, etc have meant I've only had my scope outside for maybe 5 nights in the last year! However, on Friday night, the sky was just too clear to pass up, so I had to have a go Took a while to get everything set up again, but I got there in the end and set to work trying to remember how to find things again - Turn Left at Orion once again proved its worth and I managed to see Cor Caroli, M94, M3 and M51 in Canes Venatici, M65, M66 and Algeiba in Leo, M53 in Coma Berenices - a very productive couple of hours that reminded me how much I love this hobby - must make a real effort to get back out when I can! After that, I thought I'd have a go at imaging again (nothing like jumping in with both feet first time out! ) and picked M3 and M51 as potential targets since they're both easy to locate. Rustiness was apparent when I realised I'd taken about 12 subs without the light pollution filter in place . On the plus side, the subs with and without make an interesting demonstration of the benefits! I haven't looked at my M3 images yet, but here's two different attempts at M51, the first using PixInsight LE's dynamic background extraction and the other not (the red background gradient is quite obvious in it, but I quite like the colour of the galaxy regardless) Both are based on the same set of subs - 39x60s @ ISO-800, Canon 350d through Celestron C8-N on EQ-5, unguided. Thanks for looking! Trev With DBE Without DBE

There's a side-by-side comparison with and without the SW filter here: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/88194-skywatcher-2-lpr-filter.html Hope that helps a bit! Trev

The last version is a really nice image, Euan - well worth the hard work! Lovely colours. Trev

Looks really nice, Rob - I love the filament detail in M1 The background info is interesting as always - thanks for sharing! Trev

It's amazing how well they work given the very low price. I can only assume that the (much) more expensive ones work even better. Trev

Very, very nice TJ - I love the great contrast and colour range you've got there! Trev

Thanks Harry Yeah, I know the frames overlap badly - I accidentally moved the scope and had problems getting it back to the right place again... a night of problems really! I do like your quick version though. This is my final attempt, I think I've learned some new ideas through this, so its been a very useful experience even though I don't have much of an image to show for it at the end. Trev

Very nice Daz - a pic to be proud of! Trev

I agree with Peter, the right hand one is my favourite also - nice images you have there! Trev

OK, here's my latest effort trying to follow Dennis' guide (which is very good by the way - well worth reading - I like the advice to use the cursor keys to adjust the points in the curves tool) Still a long way to go, but its better! Trev