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M51 - WIP

astroimpulse

By astroimpulse
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

Posted
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Finally got tracking sorted on the Zenith at Derwent Reservoir ;) Tried a few things and then MikeWilson, here, suggested 2000+ calibration steps. Dialed in 2100 and Bob's your uncle...sorted. Massive thanks to Mike :)

Soooooo...I'm a bit embarrassed to show this and it needs a lot more time...but I think an image from me is long over due :p

4x600s (4x10mins) - Went down to 8 as I was nervous at 10 and a little star deformation seemed to creep in.

5x480s (5x8mins)

5x300s (5x5mins)

105mins in total (seemed a lot longer!). So need much much more to get that lovely red striping :D

Matching Darks

Flats - They ended up being useless, this time, as I must have knocked something and they don't work! PI helped though - DBE etc ;)

I tried to process everything in PixInsight using the new demo (cal-reg-the lot) and I'll definitely be buying it.

I also tried not to make it too dark and there's room to stretch but it just looks too dark or too messy. I'll leave for now. I could fiddle for days on just histo stretching...time to stop :)

Lots to learn on PI (had great fun with the tools) but noise reduction bugs me at the moment. Makes the images look blurry and blobby, whatever I do, so I'll need more time on that (spent the greatest amount off time on different noise reduction tests etc). Not a fan of it yet and prefer to leave lol. But I'd went too far along to go back to a previous version so when I get more data I'd bare it in mind. The final image is noisier than the originals :(.

Lots of messing around to do as I'm not confident the darks did there job this time either (hot pixels galore too) but as I'm new to PixInsight I'm just wanting to get an image out. I don't think PI is as hard as it's been made out at times. It's thorough but very logical and fresh to use (in most parts). Big fan :eek:

Anyway...here's the image :o (cropped and 40% reduced).

post-21451-133877598195_thumb.jpg

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Thanks very much guys :)

I'm not so much embarrassed about the image (quietly chuffed with the progress so far) but more embarrassed to show to my peers. Maybe nervous was a better word to use :eek:

Derwent is a good meet and a lovely peaceful place, as you know.

Steve...are you a member of the Sunderland Society? I've only recently joined so don't know everyone well but the meets have been great and the people are super friendly.

Worth coming alone if only to look through Micheal's 11" beaut ;)

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Good M51 there :) Try getting 3 hours worth, it will make a noticeable difference. I see you do the same as I do, a few shortish exposures until youre sure the guiding is good, then increase it when youre feeling brave ;)

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Thanks fella :)

Yep...more time will bring out those lovely red/pink stripes I see in other's (nicer) images ;) Fingers crossed anyways.

I take shorter exposures (like you say) to check how good it's going before bumping up. But I do a bunch of them so I can use on things like the core without risk of overexposure. Seems to be a good way of killing two birds with one stone.

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UFO

UFO

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WOW ! I could only ever dream about taking a picture like that... in fact I see pictures like that in sci-fi movies it's that good

excellant work.

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Thanks very much UFO :)

It decent for me (best progress so far) but I hope to get as close as possible to awesome images like Cat's here: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/129186-one-my-favorite-objects-m51-whirlpool.html

That is such a gorgeous image :eek:

I'll spend a few hours more on it and call it a day I think. There's so much I'm buzzing to capture.

Obs has a green light and I hope to have one built before the winter months ;)

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3ggman

3ggman

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Great Image. Harry Pages tutorials are great for pixInsight, I would be stuck without them. I find the same problem with the noise reduction, try using it on a preview first and tweak it until you find something that works. It works a lot quicker than applying it to the whole image.

I have started using masks when applying the final few stretches on the histogram and when using the curves as it helps protect the background. (thanks to harrys tutorials for that)

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Thanks guys :)

Johnny...yep, I do all of that. I also had preview clones (to instantly compare) when testing multiple ways and just didn't like the results. I prefer the sharp noise to the blurred noise so I'll just have to persevere until I find a happy place ;)

Thanks again guys...great encouragement *thumbs up*

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Hi Sy,

You're welcome and wow, that's a beautiful M51 especially given how little data you've got!

I'd be quite interested to hear how you got on with PI. I have PI "LE" and the DBE tools is handy although I hear the new "ABE" tool in PI is improved and the noise reduction is supposed to be better?

Mike

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Hi Mike,

Yes, I'd still be chasing my tail if you hadn't suggested going as high as +2000 ;)

As soon as I did it tracked at the Zenith like a dream. Many good nights were wasted chasing that gremlin so I owe you a drink ;)

I'm trying to add more so I can close this off (2hrs more) but the weather is naff. I was getting very long subs (the last time I was out) but all I was doing was collecting light from the mist. It all adds to the experience though ;)

I've got to finish it :eek:

PixInsight is awesome in my opinion. I love it and found it very intuitive. It would have been a drag without Harry's vids and I also used PI's site to do reg and calibration of darks etc. Long winded but it'll become second nature and I like the results.

Unfortunately it's the demo and mine will run out before I get a chance to use it properly :( I need a bit longer before I can buy it.

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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On the strength of your review of PI, I'll give the demo a whirl.

ABE is the newer "Automatic Background Extraction" tool. DBE "Dynamic Background Extraction" is the older one that exists in the free (but no longer available) LE version.

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Thanks fella.

Yep...it's a fantastic tool. Once images are calibrated and merged it's just so much fun.

Mike...playing with ABE now and just going with stock settings, and putting it to subtraction, has worked so well! :eek:

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Remember...I'm a complete noobie :eek:

Just whacked ABE on as stock settings and whacked DBE on a clone with pretty much just samples per row and tolerance changed and the subtraction maps look different.

Pretty obvious that they would as I covered the whole background with DBE.

But again...this is just whacking near stock settings of both without any scientific approach. ;)

I'm a fan of DBE but only time will tell for me personally. But I'd imagine DBE will give you far more control. Especially on images of nebula etc...I would have thought.

post-21451-133877605609_thumb.jpg

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harry page

harry page

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Hi

Yes DBE is the too lof choice :eek:

The models look different as you are putting some of the samples in the DBE version over bright objects ie stars etc.

A bit of time putting samples in good places gives better results

ABE is more tolerant in default mode of stars but does not as good corrections.

A bit more practice and you will have it cracked

Harry

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astroimpulse

astroimpulse

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Yeh...I suspected as much ;)

I love PI and it's going to run out before I have a chance to use it but it's another thing on my 'must buy' list ;)

I used DBE very carefully on M51 and was please with the results (but like you say...time will make it even better) but the last thing was just daftness really.

Did you ever do the Luminance channel vid in your tutorials? :eek:

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