The sisters, unguided achromat (final edition)

[stan26]

This is the final edit of my little M45 Pleiades project. I say "final edit" but I will constantly be going back to tweak it more

The previous effort was using 139 x 30sec exposures. This new final image is with an extra 75subs making it 214 x 30sec exposures, so 1.7hrs of data.

Setup: EQ3-2 using RA drive, ST102, un-modded canon 500D. Focus achieved with home made bahtinov mask. Stacked in DSS, editing done in PS CS2.

The main problems I face with this setup/target, are CA, bloated stars & gradients. I think I done an OK job on all of them. The original image had horrendous CA which I have "controlled" but not completely removed. I reduced the star bloat by using layers in PS. If there is any bad gradients in the image I can't see it on my un-calibrated monitor, thats my excuse and im sticking to it

One of the hardest things I found with M45 is the colour balance. I adjusted from cyan to a more violet hue and couldn't really decide which looked right... but I settled with this in the end.....

Stan.

[laser_jock99]

Looks like a good effort to me- getting pinpoint stars is always going to be tricky with an achromat.

[rocketandroll]

It looks pretty darn awesome to me!

Loads of detail in the nebula for such short subs.... and massive well done on the processing, it looks pretty much spot on to me, nice dark background.

Very cool to see what people can do with achromats...

Ben

[carastro]

Excellent result for 30secs unguided.

Carole

[jgs001]

I think you've done a great job on that, good capture, and excellent processing.

[stan26]

Thanks for the comments folks. Looking at all the other great images on here I can't wait to get a scope with some proper glass inside it, i.e an ED80. Then Ill start saving for a better mount. I think I'm now hitting the limits with my current gear, but I'm still enjoying it.

I have had one more quick tweak in PS to get "slightly" better stars and give it a slightly different hue/contrast, and a tiny little extra stretch of the curves. Not sure if I have made it any better or not though.

Cheers

Stan.

[Stargazer Jack]

Love the colour in these images and this is no exception, superb!

[Hedgerow]

Well I'm impressed.....very impressed. Well done!

[peter shah]

you have to be happy with that and unguided ....nice