steviemac500

The Iris Nebula. 18 hours in total over several nights. Processing in PI. I used John Rista's NR techniques and applied some slight deconvolution. I also de-emphasised the stars using the method detailed by Adam Block. I processed the nebula separately using Starnet in PI an deliberately didn't over saturate the stars. Finally I went back and slightly darkened the background. Hope you like it, comments and criticism welcomed. https://astrob.in/b6esyw/B/

You just select "No LNC".

Thanks, that's good info. I'll try it later on.

Yes, sorry I missed it off my workflow. Edited now.

You said you used mosaic/separate as the second step. You need to use register/match instead. I’m sure there’s an error in the light vortex workflow as I get the same geometry issue when I use seperate option. If you read Warren Keller’s book he used this method and it works every time. By the way, I also use APP for mosaic construction.

I'm looking for some advice. I have never successfully created a mosaic of M31 that I am happy with. For some reason I can never quite match the intensity or the colours across the panels which you can see from the image below ( the Lum is usually ok). I'm not so worried about the seams as I know I can sort that but I do need help with the rest please. This year I made sure to take each filter on the same night. there is approx 1.5 hours of 300s in each RGB panel (x4) although i lost a when sifting them, and the Lum has 3hours in each panel My work flow is: 1. PI - Crop the edges 2. DBE each panel 3. Transfer to APP for mosaic construction - repeat for all RGB 4. DBE agan in PI 5. Register 6. Combine, background neutralisation, colour calibration 7. Noise reduction 8. Linear fit 9. Stretch Any advice would be appreciated - I've included both the stars and starless versions. Steve https://astrob.in/d5u2sd/0/

Funnily enough it does on my phone too but the laptop is fine.

This is a combination of 300s and 30s subs, combined using layer masks in PS. 300s - 72 L, 24 each in RGB, 30s - 160 L, 50 each in RGB. Processed in PI. Hope you like it, comments welcomed as always. Steve https://astrob.in/jq513s/E/

Thanks Steve. My friend pointed me in the direction of a noise reduction tutorial which massively helped. I also used starnet to work on the stars separately this time.

I've re-processed this with more of a focus on noise reduction and star colour. https://astrob.in/we1kpm/D/

Hi, nowhere near the standard in the recent post but here's my take on 101. As per the post below, I've opted to keep the blues muted but I couldn't get the galaxy back to the brightness i thought was appropriate after doing HDR multi scale to bring out the core, any tips? 6 hours in L, 2 each of RGB processed in PI. Thanks for looking. Steve

This is my take on the two galaxies. Total of 20 hours, 10 in L and 3 each in RGB. I was really pleased to see the IFN do I've opted to leave in some noise so as not to damage it too much. I always find this a tricky target to get right when it comes to the core and easy to oversharpen and leave too grainy looking but I'm fairly pleased with the end result. I am wondering whether to go and gather some more data to bring out the IFN more - if you've seen Sara's shot you'll know what I mean! Comments welcomed as always. Steve https://astrob.in/bt6x0m/0/

I've had another go at bringing the colours back to the blue more. https://astrob.in/0g6ubn/F/

Here's my latest take on M51. Typical issue of not knowing when to stop and never being happy with the image..... I finally decided on this one with a slightly more muted colour scheme than previous my attempts. I struggled a lot with the background, probably due to shooting under moonlight for some of the subs. 100 x 300s in Lum, 40 each of 300s in RGB. Comments and criticism welcomed as always. Steve https://astrob.in/0g6ubn/E/

I have the Baader 1.25” and have never experienced anything like this.

Thanks Dave.

Very pleased to end the year with my Rosette in this month’s Astronomy Now.

Thank you everyone. I appreciate all your comments. Steve

I remember taking my first NB shot of this in Ha when I first started out. I have been waiting a few years to try this in colour so here goes. I took 10 hours of 1200s exposures in each of Ha, S2 and O3. I did decon, MLT for noise reduction and then combined in PS and adjusted the colour balance too. I then added the Ha layer in again to get some detail back which I felt had been lost in the combination. Finally, I reduced the magenta stars, SCNR and colour saturation. I thought about extra sharpening but then decided that I liked the softer look. Hope you like it, c&cs welcomed as always. https://astrob.in/ag6u0y/0/

Thank you all!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the positive comments.

This is my take on M42. It's an HDR image with a mixture of 300s and 10s in L and RGB. I also used 20mins and 10s in HA then used this to enhance the detail. Total of around 23 hours. Hope you like it! Hi res below. https://astrob.in/q734k5/0/

Thanks Olly.

I can never resist this target - one of the most beautiful in the sky. This my latest take on the Seven Sisters - total of 12 hrs, 6hrs of 300s in Lum and 2 each in RGB. Hi res link below. Hope you like it. https://astrob.in/ro1vs3/0/

Thanks for the comments. I'm aware of the issues with the star alignment but it's only in one section of the mosaic. It's a simple fix by increasing the RNSAC tolerance - I just didn't take enough care first time round! When I add the HA I'll take a bit more care. What I am really interested in is people's thoughts on the final colour as I said above, there seems to be a conflict about blue or brown.