Another Cygnus Widefield

[JamesF]

Much much happier with this one, but constructive criticism welcome, as ever.

48 x 45s subs + darks, unmodded 450D, ISO800 @ f4.5 using the 18mm end of the kit 18-55mm lens on a motorised EQ3-2, stacked and stretched in DSS, heavily scaled down for here.

Much better seeing than for my first effort on Thursday night and a fair bit colder, too. No sitting out until 3am in a t-shirt last night. That seemed to make a difference to the temperature inside the camera as well. On Thursday EXIF-T was 29C. Last night it was 21C. The stars are stretched around the edges of the image. I put that down to using the lens wide open.

Framing is almost the same as my previous image, but this time I've managed to get the galactic plane a bit more nicely across the diagonal so the contrast with the other two corners is more marked.

James

[Cloudwatcher]

A very nice view of the summer triangle and surrounding area with lots to see.

If you use Photoshop and want a bit more colour click on Auto Colour and then increase the saturation to taste. You might also try rotating the image through 90 degrees to port for a different view.

[JamesF]

That really makes the image stand out. Thank you. I don't have photoshop yet, but I'm working on it. I intend to order it this evening. Once it arrives, I'll go back to the original stacked image and re-work it from there.

James

[Mike73]

Its a very nice image James and Cloudwatchers tip has certainly improved it further.

The Milky way has been outstanding recently hasn't it? I very nearly took my camera out last night to get some wide fields but forgot all about it and left it at home!

[JamesF]

Cloudwatcher's changes really bring it alive for me. Really makes the image much more vibrant and three-dimensional. Just goes to show how the processing can really make an image. Still, I've ordered my copy of Photoshop now, so all I have to worry about once it arrives is another near-vertical learning curve

The Milky Way really has been stunning recently, I agree. Rarely have I seen it so bright for so many successive nights. I've very much enjoyed the process of imaging it, too. it's quite different from my experiences of planetary imaging. Granted it takes a fair bit of patience -- there's well over an hour's worth of data collection gone into the above image even if some of it gets thrown away in stacking, but it's also quite relaxing. And whilst the images are being captured there's plenty of time for some visual stuff too.

James

[JB80]

Now that's a nice one, can you see it visually as well?

Looks like nice sharp stars and quite a bit of detail.

[JamesF]

Thank you. When the seeing is good (most of the last week, for instance), it is visible. A couple of nights it's been absolutely stunning.

James

[bazlan]

Very nice

[Takahashi]

Very nice indeed, and shows what can be achieved with just the kit lens included with most Canon, er, kits. Nice one James.

[JamesF]

Thank you. I'm keen to get out there and do some more, if the weather will allow. Looks like we're going to have a bit of a change of scene for the next few days at least though.

James

[Black Knight]

Well done James, really good. Still haven't managed to get out yet ....

[JamesF]

Doesn't look like I shall be out again in a hurry either. It's tipping down here at the moment with no forecast of much improvement in the next few days. I was looking at the first of these images:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/157434-andromeda-and-the-milky-way/

earlier today and I'm really keen to get out and see if I can get a good image of the area around Cassiopeia now, but I think waiting until later in the year might make life easier. Here's hoping we get some more clear sky soon and can have a crack at the southern end of the Milky Way.

James

[Black Knight]

Well what with the weather and now the full moon to contend with, it's probably going to be some time before I'm likely to be able to try again. By which time, I shall be on holiday under dark skies in north Devon, so who knows, perhaps I'll get lucky! .

The nice thing about sticking a camera on a tripod (or indeed a lightish EQ mount like your EQ3-2), is that you can respond fairly quickly to an unexpected break in the clouds, even if its only going to last half an hour. And you can respond just as quickly if the weather takes a sudden turn for the worse! Something I wouldn't dream of doing with my NEQ6!

[JamesF]

My copy of photoshop arrived today. I've been trying to learn to drive it this evening. Now I think I'm just going sit in a corner and go "wibble".

James

[Black Knight]

I know what you mean!

[JamesF]

Well, I have done my worst with the data. I guess it's not too bad for my first effort with photoshop. I'll post it tomorrow when I am a little more awake.

James

[Black Knight]

I shall look forward to seeing that!

[Auntystatic]

Great image, I'm just about to go back in to astronomical darkness here, if only I can get some clear skies to go with it I might do some widefield too. Looks to me like you didn't boost the saturation in deep sky stacker enough before you saved it, you should have been able to get a reasonable result, photoshops autocolour doesn't always work properly, and can sometimes give miscoloured results.

[JamesF]

Ok, here's my re-stacked, image, processed in photoshop to tweak levels and curves:

It looks like there's a certain amount of (perhaps?) amp glow at the very top of the frame, but otherwise I'm happy enough with it for it to be my new desktop background If anyone thinks there's more to be dragged out of the data I'm certainly open to suggestions.

James

[Black Knight]

James, that is seriously good. I don't know whether that is amp glow or a simple gradient, but Gradient Exterminator does the trick!

[Black Knight]

Actually, that has still left a semblance of a gradient in the upper left corner. Couldn't see that on my screen before I uploaded the thumbnail!

[JamesF]

Hmm. Yes, perhaps it isn't amp glow. I guess the darks would have taken care of that if it were. Perhaps it is a bit of LP from Taunton. It doesn't appear to reach that far across the sky visually, but then an awful lot of that image doesn't appear to be there visually

James

[michaelmorris]

Ok, here's my re-stacked, image, processed in photoshop to tweak levels and curves:

It looks like there's a certain amount of (perhaps?) amp glow at the very top of the frame, but otherwise I'm happy enough with it for it to be my new desktop background If anyone thinks there's more to be dragged out of the data I'm certainly open to suggestions.

James

James, that is seriously good. I don't know whether that is amp glow or a simple gradient, but Gradient Exterminator does the trick!

You beat me to it! Really great image. I would imagine that GradientXterminator could get rid of both the magenta amp glow at the top and what looks as though it could be a light pollution gradient in the upper left.