First M13

[Gina]

Here is my first attempt at M13 captured last night. Not quite full astronomical darkness. 30s subs at ISO 800 - 71 lights, 21 darks, no flats yet, no bias. ED80 + FR/FF, 1100D full spectrum mod with CLS-CCD clip filter. No cooling - running at 27C. Stacked in DSS, processed in PS. Cropped but not scaled so this is pixel for pixel.

[Quatermass]

That is a great M13 Gina and you have the propeller showing up really nicely as well bet you are pleased with that one

[Gina]

Yes, must admit - quite pleased with that Thank you

[FranckiM06]

Wow, it is beautiful image Gina; Congratulation for this very nice shot. Maybe you should do some adjustment in the process about the background because it is little to much blue on my screen.

Franck

[proflight2000]

Lovely indeed, and such a great messier too. well done.

[Spikey]

Much better and less noisey at ISO 800. I think 1600 could be too high for your camera when imaging.

[JohnC64]

Nice one there Gina

Cheers John

[JamesF]

Nice image, Gina. It's such a fascinating object.

James

[earth titan]

Looking good Gina. Good core details. I should think your chuffed with that?

This lack of darkness is a real pain..... I'm trying my luck at M57, as a bit of a project, but we have to wait until midnight before we get anywhere.

Roll on winter.

[Gina]

Thank you everyone for all your nice comments I think the blue might be from starting before it was quite dark - I'll check the subs and see if some of the earlier ones might best be left out. Yes, I am pleased with it - the raw subs looked very promising with a very clear propeller but, of course, less of the fainter stuff which stacking has brought out.

[Bob Andersson]

Hi Gina,

I'm sure there are lots of other tools out there which can do the same but have you tried PixInsight? It has a fairly steep learning curve but it does so much so well that it might be worth a look. It is the work of just seconds to remove that blue background using the "Dynamic Background Extraction" tool and you can keep all your subs. To see how it works check out Harry Page's "DBE Magic" video tutorial which you can find a link to on this page. Another processing route is to use PixInsight's "ColourCalibration" tool and select the core as the White reference and outlying parts of the image as the Black reference. The end result still benefits from a pass through DBE as there is a slight gradient but that tool has much less work to do and the colour balance looks pretty good when done.

PixInsight has a good free trial system so you don't have to splash the cash until you are sure it can work for you but if you do opt for a free trial then try and make sure you have some time to spare to experiment and get the most out of it.

Bob.

[pel]

Great image, well done Gina.

[Shibby]

Great job Gina

About the temperature - it's nights like these that makes one want a cooled CCD, isn't it!

[Gina]

Hi Gina,

I'm sure there are lots of other tools out there which can do the same but have you tried PixInsight? It has a fairly steep learning curve but it does so much so well that it might be worth a look. It is the work of just seconds to remove that blue background using the "Dynamic Background Extraction" tool and you can keep all your subs. To see how it works check out Harry Page's "DBE Magic" video tutorial which you can find a link to on this page. Another processing route is to use PixInsight's "ColourCalibration" tool and select the core as the White reference and outlying parts of the image as the Black reference. The end result still benefits from a pass through DBE as there is a slight gradient but that tool has much less work to do and the colour balance looks pretty good when done.

PixInsight has a good free trial system so you don't have to splash the cash until you are sure it can work for you but if you do opt for a free trial then try and make sure you have some time to spare to experiment and get the most out of it.

Bob.

Thanks for that I'm thinking of trying PixInSight but will probably leave it until autumn/winter when I have more data to process.

[Gina]

Great image, well done Gina.

Thank you

[Gina]

Great job Gina

About the temperature - it's nights like these that makes one want a cooled CCD, isn't it!

Thank you

I'll settle for a cooled DSLR for the present. I may be able to save up for a cooled CCD later. I want to go that route eventually - mono CCD with filters (LRGB and NB) and filter wheel. I would particularly like to try NB.