M27 Dumbbell Nebula - SW Exp200P & QHY5L-II

[SnakeyJ]

Very pleased with this, though always room for more improvement. I did capture LRGB channels for this, but have ditched the Luminance channel as it introdcued too much noise to the final image. However, the RGB is pretty good to my mind - perhaps some work on reducing the halo's on brighter stars and the background colour gradient:

I've got two screens at work and the image definitely looks better on the newer bigger one! The older/smaller one is really pretty ropey for processing purposes. Mind you as I get older the amount of natural guassian blur in my eyes is definitely increasing - eyesight check next month

[JamesF]

Very nice, Jake. Every time I've processed M27 I've struggled over bringing the blues and greens up to show the outer regions of the nebula whilst not having them drown out the red in the core which is quite dramatic. It's a tricky balance. Perhaps longer subs are the answer.

I was also capturing data for M27 last night, but share your monitor problem and haven't managed to process it satisfactorily yet. I also captured it rather later in the night thanks to working on setup stuff first and I think it may have suffered a little due to the Moon getting in on the act. I shall try again later.

James

[emadmoussa]

Fantastic!

[Velvet]

Very nice image there.... i am usually grateful for the blur in my eyesight on the images i produce

Velvet

[SnakeyJ]

Very nice, Jake. Every time I've processed M27 I've struggled over bringing the blues and greens up to show the outer regions of the nebula whilst not having them drown out the red in the core which is quite dramatic. It's a tricky balance. Perhaps longer subs are the answer.

I was also capturing data for M27 last night, but share your monitor problem and haven't managed to process it satisfactorily yet. I also captured it rather later in the night thanks to working on setup stuff first and I think it may have suffered a little due to the Moon getting in on the act. I shall try again later.

James

Thanks James, I've been working on those longer subs but need some more work on tuning and balancing my mount. Hoping I can figure out why the PHD2 beta crashed out last night, as this has lots of improvements over the original - though may have to revert until the final version comes out as nights like last night can't be wasted on sorting out the kit!

The moon was just brightening as I took the blue channel, but seem to have just gotten away with it. I dewed up not long after as I'd forgotten to turn the heaters on, but the moonlight had already put paid to further imaging.

[JamesF]

I tried guiding with AA5 last night and couldn't get anything reliable, but the original PHD pulled through for me. I've never used it before so I was very pleased.

I was quite astonished to find that there was now dew on my Mak at all when I packed up at around 3:15am this morning having had it pointing at the sky since about 10pm without any dew heaters at all. It was quite warm here last night though. Even well after midnight I was still out in a t-shirt.

James

[tich]

That's a fantastic image Jake I really like this one.

[SnakeyJ]

I tried guiding with AA5 last night and couldn't get anything reliable, but the original PHD pulled through for me. I've never used it before so I was very pleased.

I was quite astonished to find that there was now dew on my Mak at all when I packed up at around 3:15am this morning having had it pointing at the sky since about 10pm without any dew heaters at all. It was quite warm here last night though. Even well after midnight I was still out in a t-shirt.

James

Crikey, we must be a lot softer down here. I had my jeans, t-shirt, fleecy and woolly hat on last night, definitely felt autumnal! I woke my boy up just after midnight and put a tracksuit over his PJs, but he still insisted on the sleeping bay in the deckchair! The temperature dropped quite quickly after 01:30hrs and the dew caught me by surprise. I suspect it was a little coastal mist as there was a low haze still visible this morning, despite the clear blue sky as I drove ito work

[NickK]

I like the original - it's subtle.

Tightening up the stars slightly gives some additional definition to the blobs with PSF deconv

[SnakeyJ]

I like the original - it's subtle.

Tightening up the stars slightly gives some additional definition to the blobs with PSF deconv

Very nice touch on that Nick, does a lovely job of sharpening up the stars without generally increasing the noise in the surrounding nebula. I've been trying to decide on which route to move on from Firecapture/Gimp (Neb3, AA5 or PI) and have had a quick try with some demos. Next up is PI, but looking very much like I shall be venturing down this route judging by reviews and comments at large. It's going to take a lot more work finding my way around, but looks far more powerful/featured than both Neb and AA.

[NickK]

PI is focuses purely on processing, Neb has a very tried and tested capture but PI has better processing once you get up the steep learning curve. For processing PI work on 95% of DSO but is weak on planets.