M81....well, most of it anyway!

[RobH]

Hello folks,

Here's M81 from the 8th February.

I'd hoped to get this done sooner but work has been pretty full-on and Maxim kept freezing up when I tried to align and combine for some reason ....ended up reinstalling on a different drive and, touch wood, it seems ok now....

This is a stack of 30 x 6 minute subs taken with an Atik 16HRC through an LX200GPS14" at F5 or so (Antares 0.5x FR).

Guided with a TAL 100R @ F10/ DSI Pro/ PHD

Captured with Maxim, colours calibrated to a G2V star as white, processed with PS CS2, a little noise reduction applied using Neatimage.

Seeing wasn't so great so the stars are a bit fuzzy but overall I'm quite pleased with the detail. I'd not imaged this before and looking at it while processing has really left me with a sense of awe at the scale and energies involved....and I can't help thinking that in all of those stars there must be something that can also look at the night sky and appreciate it!

Cheers

Rob

[radioactive]

Flippin Eck Rob

You've Captured yourself a right Corker mate what a thing of beauty my Mrs just went Bl**dy ell that's lovely you ain't done that! Have you?

No dear Its from a real imager. Excellent stuff Rob keep up the good work no GREAT WORK! :hello1: :hello1:

[Sam]

Rob,

You've done great work on that! What a superb shot!

[MartinB]

Fantastic detail from the big scope Rob. The Ha zones really stand out and so much to see in the dust lanes. Superb image

I'm very interested in hearing that you've done a G2V calibration for the colour. I've noticed that all these Sony ICX colour cameras seem too light in blue. It's a very subjective thing. If you compare with these images from the greats, who also do G2V calibration their outer areas of the galaxy have much more blue

http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M81NMM.html

http://www.rc-astro.com/photo/id1025.html

I think Rob Gendler has over done the blue! So what's going on here. This has nothing to do with the quality of your image which is outstanding, just a question about colour interpretation.

[RobH]

Hello Martin,

I thought the same re. colour when I was putting this together. I've also seen m81 with blue outer layers and wondered why they looked reddish on mine.

I tried several different colour balances, including pushing the blue, up to 40% more than the reds on one attempt, but it was very obviously out of balance when I did that, with a distinct blue tint to the background and blue stars.

I eventually came to the conclusion that what I have is correct for the conditions I was shooting in.

Incidentally, When I did my calibration, the star was pretty well overhead, and so was M81 when I shot it, so it's not an effect of atmospheric refraction.

I suspect that for some reason the blues, probably due to LP or something similar, or maybe an upper haze, aren't making it through.

That said, I suspect RG has pushed and increased saturation on his blues. Mind you, he does have truly dark skies, unlike my back yard in Weymouth!

Cheers

Rob

[LostNSpace]

Blimey Rob.......cracking image there

Nice one

Mark

[MartinB]

Hello Martin,

I thought the same re. colour when I was putting this together. I've also seen m81 with blue outer layers and wondered why they looked reddish on mine.

I tried several different colour balances, including pushing the blue, up to 40% more than the reds on one attempt, but it was very obviously out of balance when I did that, with a distinct blue tint to the background and blue stars.

I eventually came to the conclusion that what I have is correct for the conditions I was shooting in.

Incidentally, When I did my calibration, the star was pretty well overhead, and so was M81 when I shot it, so it's not an effect of atmospheric refraction.

I suspect that for some reason the blues, probably due to LP or something similar, or maybe an upper haze, aren't making it through.

That said, I suspect RG has pushed and increased saturation on his blues. Mind you, he does have truly dark skies, unlike my back yard in Weymouth!

Cheers

Rob

Thanks for that Rob, it's very interesting. Your image looks more natural than Rob Gendlers!!

[dogfish]

Hi Rob

That's a cracking image and nice to see such a close-up view.

Cheers, Martin

[gary1968]

Cracking shot, I like like the colour and the clarity.

Gary

[MikeD]

Great shot Rob, great detail showing.

Mike.

[Beyond_Vision]

Almost squeezed it in Rob it's nice to see it up close with some good detail showing.

Regards

Kevin