Cloudwatcher

Clever stuff with just a phone and binoculars! Hope you don't mind my doing a quick tweek in photoshop just to clear up the image a little.

My lunchtime "living Colour" attempt.

I think that is a really good first attempt at what can be a very difficult target to get right. I had a quick play with the image in Photoshop and think there is quite a bit of detail to be pulled out given time.

I incline toward a tumbler rather than Clanger navigation lights. However,both the US and China have Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) satellites in orbit that travel in formation,either double or triple groupings. Don't have orbit times but it's possible you have caught one of these formations in your images.

For a quick fix,isolate the nebula and play with the Hue/Saturation,reducing the reds and increasing the blues in the background.

Had a quick lunchtime play in Photoshop......reducing the red area went OK I think but my attempt to enhance the Fireworks galaxy turned out to be a bit of a damp squid.

You do say this is a crop,can we have a peek at the full frame? I think 'globs' tend to look at their best with a larger background.......meantime,try the sharpening tool in Photoshop on selective areas to bring out more stars.

I think you could afford to stretch the image a bit more in CS3........all depends on what kind of result you are looking for. I have done a quick tweak using the Dodge and Burn tools on the galaxy,darkened the background and used the sponge tool to bring out a bit of colour in the stars.

Like the M33 image very much.

You could try using the Gamma Correction slider in the Exposure tool of Photoshop to reduce the 'glow' around the central star, on separate layer of course and then merge when happy with the level of reduction. I also think bogdog is right with regard to having a fiddle with the contrast.........all a matter of personal preference of course.

The "chain" image is neat.......almost an eyepiece view.

A quick lunchtime effort with Photoshop CS3. Think you could have a good final image with a bit more work.

Wot like I'd do next is shove the galaxy into Hue/Saturation,reduce the red/magenta and pump up the blues/cyans. I like contrast so I'd give the black a damn good clipping if not a thorougher beating!

Like the widefield......hope you don't mind a bit of colour tweaking.

Nicely done. That brings back memories.I used to do a lot of similar stuff a while back. I found by accident that a painted surface that has had paint stripper applied and reached the crackle stage makes for a great planetary base. Change the colours,add a few clouds and you have your own exoplanet!