First Light - M51 with MN190, 460EX and EQ8 - first session this year

[Gina]

Thank you John   Now processing the LRGB but having a bit of difficulty remembering how I did it before.

[Gina]

Best effort so far but I think it could be better - I think I've done better before but maybe I had more data - can't remember - have to see what I can find later

[cfpendock]

That's a very nice smooth image and shows the three tails.

Chris

[Gina]

Thank you Chris

[Gina]

When I looked at the full frame image I noticed dust bunnies so I've taken sets of flats and reprocessed all the data using the flats.  Also, practice makes perfect as they say and I think my latest version is an improvement on the previous one.  See what you all think

[Gina]

I've been wondering just how much the Luminance data has addeed to the image and suspecting very little as the FWHM of it was around 2.5 and the 2x2 binned RGB was around 1.3 I thought the L would not not be of much higher resolution and add little to the image.  So here the images as before but with RGB only.

[Gina]

There's quite a lot nof cloud about ATM but it's possible that it may disperse by dark.  If so I think I shall go for more RGB subs and no Luminance.  At any rate if the FWHM figures are no better than last night there is no point in taking unbinned subs as nothing is gained over 2x2 binning and lots of signal is lost.  I think RGB only with 2 or 3 min subs binned 2x2 will gather more data than the LRGB of last night.  Skies here rarely seem to support unbinned subs with the MN190 and 460EX.

[Gina]

Far from clearing, the clouds have gathered and darkened and now the whole sky is covered with dark clouds and it looks like rain!   Another night indoors it would seem

[sologuitarist61]

That has come out very well - well done!

[Gina]

Surprise surprise - the clouds have gone away and I'm currently imaging M51 in RGB 4m binned 2x2.  FWHM is 1.8 - slightly worse than last night but pretty good

[Gina]

Single Red sub of 4m binned 2x2 processed with FITS Liberator and Ps then resized to 1200px wide and saved as PNG for upload.

[Quatermass]

Great to see you at work Gina your dedication is an inspiration :-)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Gina]

Thank you Mark

[Gina]

Going well tonight so far

Running RGB subs of 4m 2x2 and have done some interim processing on the first six sets - DSS, RegiStar and Ps cropped to just under 1200px for upload.

[Coco]

That's better! Coming on now

I don't use an OAG so I would imagine its a challenge to find a guide star in near that lonely area of M51 and frame your target just right. Especially with a long FL scope and smallish CCD.

[Gina]

Thank you Chris and Jake   Cloud started coming in just after midnight so not as good as the previous night.  After midnight some subs are alright and some aren't so from then on I shall have to look at each sub with FITS Liberator and cherry pick.  That is going to take a while   But probably worth it

[GuillermoBarrancos]

Very nice progress Gina.

[Gina]

Thank you

[Gina]

With just reasonable subs selected I got 15 red, 16 green and 17 blue.  Processed as before and cropped.  Next time we get some clear skies I think I'll set up to get some Ha subs to show the star forming areas.  Published images with Ha show a much prettier image

Here is my latest version with RGB only with 4 minute 2x2 binned subs.

I wonder why the image displayed online never looks quite as good as it does in Photoshop    I know this has been mentioned many times in the past but I just had to say it as I'm a little disappointed at now my latest image appears.  Contrast and colour seem reduced compared with Ps.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

Are you using SGL's media section to upload and display astro images?, as they get compressed somehow and often show artifacts.

Best is to use your own site to upload in full resolution or sites as Astrobin or Flickr. Tho Astrobin is better.

Also, do not use the save for web option in Photoshop. That will reduce image quality as well by compressing image size.

[Gina]

Are you using SGL's media section to upload and display astro images?, as they get compressed somehow and often show artifacts.

Best is to use your own site to upload in full resolution or sites as Astrobin or Flickr. Tho Astrobin is better.

Also, do not use the save for web option in Photoshop. That will reduce image quality as well by compressing image size.

I use the Upload feature from More Reply Options.  As I know any image over 1200 x 1200 px will be auto reduced I crop or resize below that limit.  I also save as PNG which is lossless.  The advantage is that readers get a thumbnail with the option to see the full size image.  There are many members here (myself included) who have very slow broadband and the full size image even at less than 1200px can take several minutes to download.  I guess I could provide a link to a higher res image hosted elsewhere and, in fact, I sometimes do this where my image is a lot bigger than 1200px wide/high.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

I use the Upload feature from More Reply Options.  As I know any image over 1200 x 1200 px will be auto reduced I crop or resize below that limit.  I also save as PNG which is lossless.  The advantage is that readers get a thumbnail with the option to see the full size image.  There are many members here (myself included) who have very slow broadband and the full size image even at less than 1200px can take several minutes to download.  I guess I could provide a link to a higher res image hosted elsewhere and, in fact, I sometimes do this where my image is a lot bigger than 1200px wide/high.

You could consider using Astrobin tho. It's very popular and a very nice media site dedicated to Astro Imaging. Then you are sure nothing funky gets done with your uploaded image.

[Quatermass]

Your might also like to take a look at this hosting site as well which is pretty good for not compressing your images and losing quality

http://500px.com/ 

[StuartJPP]

Good work Gina, coming along nicely.

[leemanley]

Thanks for sharing your workflow Gina, its really inspiring to see someone with such dedication as yours !
Always great to see something new from yourself and this is looking to follow in the same direction as your past work.
I think I'll give up on my M51 now after seeing this come together !
Cheers, Lee