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Paul Holdsworth

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  1. Hi all, here's my effort on NGC 891 ( Silver Galaxy). I've set myself a target this year of imaging a lot more galaxies if possible largely because I've only got three ! The usual suspects of Andromeda, Whirlpool & Bodes ; so identified another seven with the silver galaxy being one of them. I used my Skywatcher 150p for this one which has a FL of 750mm but even that is probably a bit short for galaxies. So this is just three hours on the galaxy itself but for a change I took another hour for the stars and kept the exposures down to 30 seconds to try and preserve some star colour. I live in a Bortle 6 area so that's the only way of retaining star colour. My goodness it was cold last night but after 7 weeks of persistent clouds/wind I wasn't passing that up ! Cheers Paul
  2. Hi all, I know I'm late to the party but finally installed the new graxpert ai many have mentioned in their posts. I've had a 4 hour two panel mosaic sat on the pc since the beginning of this year but never posted because it had some horrendous gradients that DBE or ABE couldn't get rid of. So impressed with this software because one click and they were gone.....or at least nowhere near as bad. I think the reason I was hesitant about it was because it wasn't integrated into pixinsight or not until very recently . Will definitely be using this software instead of DBE in future. The image just needs more integration now ! Cheers Paul
  3. Hi all, I've been looking for some new targets recently and decided on NGC 6823 ; I'm not even sure if it's got a nickname or not ? Anyway this is 7 hours of 5 min subs taken over the last couple of weeks using my Skywatcher 750mm reflector, 294mc pro and an l extreme filter. The image has been processed in pixinsight and photoshop with much more of a vibrant look than I normally go for so may have over done it on reflection ! It doesn't seem a hugely popular target but it's a new one to add to my little lightroom collection 😃 Cheers Paul
  4. Thanks Peter, yes the shell seems to be appearing but I'm going to have another look & see if by using GHS I can tame the core a bit . Cheers Paul
  5. Thank you. Yes I did this one with the 150P which for the money I think is a decent telescope. On the stretching you're right I'm going to have another look at it probably using GHS. I suspect I'll be able to tame the core but probably at the expense of the shell. Cheers Paul
  6. Hi all, it's been a while since I posted an image ! I lost the first 6 weeks of summer due to having the scopes all wrapped up for some building work and then it's been just night after night of cloud ......it was only the ashes series that kept me going 😅 Anyhow I finally got a clear night on Tuesday so this is just 3 hours on M27 so a bit smash and grab but hey just nice to be out imaging again. The core was way brighter than I was expecting but at least the outer shell is starting to show ! The image has been processed in pixinsight with a bit of colour work in photoshop. Cheers Paul
  7. Hi all, this is definitely work in progress as it's just 2 hours of L pro data for RGB and 2 hours of Ha extracted from a L extreme. I've found adding the Ha data to the RGB a bit of a challenge to get the right amount going into the galaxy & in the right places. There seems to be a number of methods out there on you tube most involving a number of pixel math expressions etc but I found a recent video (6 mins long) from pixinsight themselves showing how to do it using their new SPCC process . My first thought given it's from pixinsight themselves was it would be full of pixel math expressions but actually it's just one expression and one click with SPCC and it takes the right amount of Ha to add to the RGB. Purpose of the post isn't the quality of the image yet but more about a really simple method of specifically adding Ha to a galaxy. I've attached a link to the 6 min video for anyone like me searching for a simple method for galaxies using HARGB. Link :- https://youtu.be/jJFUZY5p6yQ Cheers Paul
  8. Hi all, finally two consecutive clear nights! When I started the hobby 3 years ago I bought a bundle package of reflector telescope and mount then quickly added a 500mm refractor which seemed easier as a beginner not to have to deal with collimation etc . The newtonian has sat at the side of the computer gathering dust.....until now! I Bought a laser collimator a few weeks ago and thought I'd give it a go again especially with galaxy season starting. So here's my effort on the whirlpool galaxy (M51) which is 5 hours of 3 min subs over the last two nights using the optolong lpro filter and zwo 294 mc pro. It's only the second galaxy image i've done so lots to learn galaxy processing. I fully intend to add some Ha data to this by extracting some Ha from a L extreme narrowband to see if that adds anything but for now this is just plain old RGB data. Cheers Paul
  9. Thanks Bastiaan. The gear I used was :- Scope - Star travel 500 mm refractor Camera - Zwo 294 mc pro with a gain of 120 Filter - Optolong L extreme filter Mount - Skywatcher eq 3pro Cheers Paul
  10. Thanks Adrian, yes I agree on the corners and I'm sure you're right about the flats. In fact I remember on the last session the flats were way brighter than normal. 👍 Cheers Paul
  11. Thank you Martin . Sorry I've only just seen your comment you left a while ago. Yes I did use Russ Croman's Blur Ext which I agree is superb and also advanced sharpening too just before bringing the stars back. For me at the moment one at the start of the processing and one at the end is the sharpening processes I've settled on for now. I'll certainly take a look at your suggestion though and thanks again for leaving a comment. Cheers Paul
  12. Hi all, one of my favourite nebulas and still relatively high this is 6.5 hrs of 5 min subs on the rosette nebula. Imaging time was pretty poor throughout February so I'm quite pleased I got this one finished last night. Image was stacked in APP, processed in pixinsight with all the latest stuff and finished off in photoshop ( still love photoshop for selective colour ). Cheers Paul
  13. Hi all, here's my effort on the monkey head nebula NGC2174. This is just over six hours of five min subs stacked in APP , processed in pixinsight and finished off in photoshop. I used the advanced sharpening script in pixinsight for the first time which I think does make a slight difference especially in the core. It's probably a bit less aggressive than the unsharp mask tool I'd previously used in my opinion. Cheers Paul
  14. Hi all, finally a couple of clear nights last week. I managed to get six hours of usable data on the Cone nebula/ Christmas tree cluster though I had to throw away an equivalent amount due to really poor guiding. Every time I did the calibration for guiding PHD2 kept asking for the max Dec and Ra duration steps to be increased.......absolutely no idea why but guiding that's normally between 0.6 to 1.0 turned into 1.0 to 1.5 on both nights. I think Blur exterminator in pixinsight probably helped in tightening up most of the dodgy looking stars so thought it was still an image worth posting. Cheers Paul
  15. Very nice indeed ! Love the colour palette with the OIII 👍
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