Nick Smith

know you are an experienced imager. Could not resist having a qucik quick tweak of the image!

How's this? Any better. i had a quick go in Pixinsight

Great job, well done! 100% impressed

Nice shot!

Great job, well done!

The fine detail in Ptolemaeus is amzing, great job!

Thanks Neil. I have been printing a lot of stuff out lately, so it is essential to get the levels/contrast as high as possible. For the internet, with most monitors, your stuff looks AMAZING!

Hi Neil It's Nick from back in the old days. Glad to see you are still out there, keeping well, and getting these amazing photos!. I know what you are trying to do with making theses shots look as natuaral as possible. I have attached a version of one of the images with the levels boosted in the dark areas You have probably already tried this! Just thought I would see what you think. ..

Thanks guys. I have never known a period like this when conditions have been so stable Well, possibly Winter 2007-8 Cheers Nick

I think the smoothing/sharpening on the forum does the images no favours, so see https://www.astrobin.com/users/nsmith10000/ or https://pbase.com/nicksmith/root for better versions and a lot more images from this Spring! Cheers Nick

Hi Guys Here are a couple more from this Spring. The seeing conditions were like La Palma/Barbados, great for the UK.. The Lacus Mortis image was captured at about 21 degrees (15th June), which shows how steady things were!

Great shots Steve, well done!

Nice one Neil. Can't keep a good man down! Look forward to your images once you are up and running properly

Hi guys An image from 20th April when we had some clear skies and good seeing 😀 Here is the link to the full sized photo: https://pbase.com/nicksmith/image/171588941/original.jpg Don't know how many people still read this forum, but thought I would post here for old times sake. Got a load more recent photos if anyone is interested!

Amazing. Great work!

Nice one Trevor!

Hi Smerral You may have thought the seeing was not all that good, but... those images are FANTASTIC!!! For 8 inches of aperture I have seen nothing better, and I have seen a lot, I don't know where you live, but I get conditions like this about every 5-10 years. Can't find your earlier better results, would be interested if you can post a link, Great work! Cheers Nick

Thanks Pete, Richard and Bradley. Here is a link to the whole Moon from a few years ago. Doable from the UK, but would need a bit of luck! https://pbase.com/image/116819269/original Cheers Nick

Already have done! https://pbase.com/image/116819269/original

Hi all Seeing was great for the altiude, which unfortunately was only 39 degrees! ASI174mm camera, C14 Thanks for looing!

Thankls guys! Yes, Ihad some Ha data, but it all looked a bit noisy so I left it out. Cheers Nick

Basically all of it, Can you see the difference in colour between your original image and the one I posted?

Great Image! I like the processing. With my image I caved into "peer pressure" and made it more saturated with more sharpening. Like you say, it is hard to get a result you are satisfied with...

Thanks Carole. Bortle 5 according to Clear Outside, and I think that is about right, Maybe borderline 6. I have the normal local stuff (including my own house!) to deal with. If you have a similar field of view to mine, I would give it a go. The Moon/general sky conditions were a much bigger factor than the local light pollution. I found a big difference between 4 and 7 hours luminance in smoothing out the image, All-in-all it did take a LOT longer than I though to get what I did!! Cheers Nick

Hi all As you may know, the beginning of the Coronavirus lockdown in the UK coincided with a spell of decent weather, Taken between the 15th and 22nd April. LRGB image, a total of 24,8 hours exposure. Under my carpy skies could do with a lot more, but have to draw the line somewhere! The first image is a crop of the larger field from the Esprit 150. Camera ZWO ASI1600mm.