M33 My triple first and a very senior moment

[Grandad]

I have been putting together my first shots of the season, using my new Heq5 for the first time and having my first attempt at M33.

Over 3 nights I acquired

85min 1x1 luminence

50 min 2x2 red

50 min 2x2 green

50 min 2x2 blue

40 min 2x2 Ha

Processed in DSS Nebulosity and Photoshop7

Sadly I lost another 60 minutes luminence by leaving my hartman focus mask in place.

I added the ha to the red channel after re-reading an artical my Nik Szymanek in Astronomy Now November 2010.

At the time of first reading that artical I was just getting to grips with my eq3 mount and didn't even have a camera.

Hope you like

John

[carastro]

That is absolutely lovely, you've captured lots and lots of those red nebulous areas in M33.

I just wonder if overall the brightness might need turning down a bit to see the detail.

RE: leaving the mask on, I think we've all done that at some time or another, but in my case I normally check my first few subs to check that all is well before leaving it and picked it up before too many subs were wasted.

Something to look back and laugh about if you didn't want to cry.

Carole

[Grandad]

Thanks fot the comments. I agree that it's a bit bright but I tried several variations and liked this one the best.

Re the mask..the camera is so sensitive I was still getting an image, in fact out of curiosity I stacked the duff frames and got a fair image that I would have well pleased with a year ago.

john

[RobH]

Nice work John, the processing is spot on and the Ha very sensitively added.

The one thing that would improve it dramatically though, by improving the overall contrast, is the use of flat frames. They really are worth doing, and in this image would remove the vignetting that is showing and help with the background.

Cheers

Rob

[Tim]

Ooo, you picked a tricky target for a first one, but you have done it proud! I would emphasise what Rob says, try to get some flat frames, on images like this they really help with the processing, sorting out the background gradients for you.

Great start

Tim

[Casperovic]

This is a beautiful shot john !

[Grandad]

Thanks all for the encouragement.

Flat frames are the next thing on my learning curve. I can't keep putting it off.

[carastro]

I hadn't realised you had not done flat frames, that would perhaps explain the lightness of the centre.

What a shame, they would have made a really good image even better. I had not realised you were still learning. If this is what you can produce in the learning stages goodness knows what you will produce when you've got a bit more experienced.

Look forward to watching your progress.

Carole