M51 in L + OSC dodging the clouds

[Sp@ce_d]

Here's a crop of M51 from last night..

Making the most of some surprising clearish patches, so after my main target dropped behind the tree's I thought I'd point at the least cloudy patch of sky & leave things running through the night.. Not the ideal imaging setup for this target but with the weather I'm desperate for anything to post these days!

So out of 133 subs I've ended up using:

49x5mins from the 1000D on the 80ED

30x5mins luminance from the 314L+ on the ZS66

I have some binned R & B from the 314L+ (was going to use a synth G) but I don't think they'll add anything at this scale.. Plus it's still early days of getting my head around CCD processing for me anyway.

Processed with Nebulosity, Registar & CS3

[ianaiken]

Good capture considering the conditions. I too last night captured M51. I couldn't see my current target IC434 due to cloud that would not shift. East was nice and crisp though.

[ultranova]

nicely caught, with a surprising amount of detail

well done

[Coco]

Good effort, I'd stick to the 314 personally on galaxies..

[Sp@ce_d]

Thanks for the comments.. I've never had that much success with galaxies so I'm quite pleased the way this one turned out. I know I need a much longer focal length really (think I'll have to start flogging off some of my guitar collection to fund something.. or swaps anyone? )

Since I've had the 314 I've never been able to capture all the data channels before the clouds roll in or the target has moved out of reach, so I tend to shoot with the DSLR alongside as backup. So far it's the only way I've been able to get enough data to do something with but the 314's sensor is a lovely chip to use. Love to have two running really.. wonder if the OSC version is as good?

[Gina]

Very good image - lots of detail

[Uranium235]

Youre heading in the right directon with the twin shooter, making the most of precious clear sky. The main problem ive found so far is eliminating the chromatic noise in darker areas from the 1000d, even with lots of subs and full calibration - its still there.

Maybe you should try clipping the black point a bit more on the RGB layer when blending it with the luminence layer, and be aiming to use the background level of your 314 luminence master as the target level for your finished work (so the noise from the DSLR layer isnt bleeding through). Another tricky thing is star colour, soooo easy to lose it with the DSLR.

A good start though.

[Sp@ce_d]

Youre heading in the right directon with the twin shooter, making the most of precious clear sky. The main problem ive found so far is eliminating the chromatic noise in darker areas from the 1000d, even with lots of subs and full calibration - its still there.

Maybe you should try clipping the black point a bit more on the RGB layer when blending it with the luminence layer, and be aiming to use the background level of your 314 luminence master as the target level for your finished work (so the noise from the DSLR layer isnt bleeding through). Another tricky thing is star colour, soooo easy to lose it with the DSLR.

A good start though.

Thanks.. I'll try that.. I kinda gave up on the background & star colour in this one.. think I overcooked it trying various NR techniques to try & smooth it out. One thing that seemed to help with what I guess is the chromatic noise you're describing is the "Color Blotch Reduction" in Noels AT actions. I'm still only scratching the surface with processing so any tips are most gratefully received..