Do I push for more data on M106

[Starlight 1]

Last week with Moon under 50% and not on the same side as M106 ,So over 2 nights I have to do just little runs of 2 mins when I see a clear spot, working in R/G&B only70 subs more or less the same of each.

its not looking to bad for just over 2 hours of sub with some colour just starting to show. So I at a point this week Moon and M106 will be on the same side do I try for some HA and use as lum or sit back till the Moon back down to 50%

again . Here is the data done in Nebulosity 4 only As I do not want to spent time trying to add more data on a image that will not look any good in the end.

As allways I looking for help again .  I am getting to a point of giving up I just to old trying to work it all out.

I go as far as saying I seen better with less time put in.

[MattJenko]

I would not use Ha as Lum and certainly not on a galaxy. The Ha regions in a galaxy tend to be the clumps in the spirals and using it as Lum for the entire image will fuzz out the details you have fought hard to achieve in the core. It could be used to enhance the R channel though.

Also, for 2 mins subs in each RGB channel, you should be getting decent colour when combining, as even if the galaxy remains relatively monochrome, the stars should exhibit good colour with those sub times. How are you processing the image, as I suspect there is a lot more colour in there than what you have in this particular version.

[Oddsocks]

It is a good start, don't give up...there is some colour to be found in the stars and detail in the core to be revealed once the background fog is removed and colour balanced, the outer galaxy halo is just beginning to appear.

As MattJenko posts, Ha is not a good choice for the galaxy as a whole but it can be obtained under Moonlight and added a lot to the red channel and a very little in the luminance channel.

You state that this is just a RGB capture and you think other versions you have seen are better but I suspect the ones you think are better have been captured using L+RGB, for a galaxy I think you get crisper, more detailed results using a normal luminance filter (or LP filter if conditions dictate) at bin 1x1 and then use bin 2x2 for the RGB channels plus a little Ha at 1x1 bin blended back in to the red and the luminance channels at the end.

If possible, longer subs would help bring the faint halo detail out above the background noise and then a blend of layered higher/lower stretch in Photoshop would keep the core intact and reveal the halo more clearly (as long as the sensor is not overwhelmed by background LP).

Attached, very quick application of Pixinsight DBE and Colour Saturation tools plus Astronomy Tools plug-in v1.6 for Photoshop to enhance the star colour just to see what is there...

 

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Oddsocks
Added sub length suggestion

[Starlight 1]

1 hour ago, Oddsocks said:

It is a good start, don't give up...there is some colour to be found in the stars and detail in the core to be revealed once the background fog is removed and colour balanced, the outer galaxy halo is just beginning to appear.

As MattJenko posts, Ha is not a good choice for the galaxy as a whole but it can be obtained under Moonlight and added a lot to the red channel and a very little in the luminance channel.

You state that this is just a RGB capture and you think other versions you have seen are better but I suspect the ones you think are better have been captured using L+RGB, for a galaxy I think you get crisper, more detailed results using a normal luminance filter (or LP filter if conditions dictate) at bin 1x1 and then use bin 2x2 for the RGB channels plus a little Ha at 1x1 bin blended back in to the red and the luminance channels at the end.

If possible, longer subs would help bring the faint halo detail out above the background noise and then a blend of layered higher/lower stretch in Photoshop would keep the core intact and reveal the halo more clearly (as long as the sensor is not overwhelmed by background LP).

Attached, very quick application of Pixinsight DBE and Colour Saturation tools plus Astronomy Tools plug-in v1.6 for Photoshop to enhance the star colour just to see what is there...

 

Thanks Mat & odd Socks . OK I stay away from the HA and came back to this one next week when the Moon start going away,

I was only doing little subs as the Moon was about .I do some 5 mins next time out  and do Lum last  ?. I been doing all subs in 1x1 to keep Stars nice and little, if add 2x2 subs will this chance Star size?  or do 2x2 make better colours. Still try to work out how  CCD + fillers works best with Moon and without it  so this my frist go at R/G/B . So thanks for replying .

I did say one last post or I am going to give up . I am not that good with words so I try to work it all out in my head/ I spend to long downloading subs and just putting them in the bin .

PS I try again today trying to get more from the subs and give up . So when I have 30 hours of Subs it may look ok looking at this one .

[ollypenrice]

I think you could catch more as you are, but wait for a moonless sky because the outer parts are faint. There are some superb Ha features in M106 including a spikey litte jet coming from close to the core but they are seriously weak and need lots of time.

The others have said it: don't use Ha for luminance on galaxies (and don't use it as luminance to any great extent on any image. Ha is red. Use it in red!)

Olly

[Starlight 1]

On 2/22/2016 at 22:40, ollypenrice said:

I think you could catch more as you are, but wait for a moonless sky because the outer parts are faint. There are some superb Ha features in M106 including a spikey litte jet coming from close to the core but they are seriously weak and need lots of time.

The others have said it: don't use Ha for luminance on galaxies (and don't use it as luminance to any great extent on any image. Ha is red. Use it in red!)

Olly

Olly you are 100% right again , Try 1 hour of HA in 99% Moon all going in the bin  after grading them all of them are over 400 , when the Moon was 50% grading was 125 to 175.

so M106 and Moon in the same part of the sky Ha do not work so I try that any more. But I have work out a lot more in how PHD works so the night was a right off.

[ollypenrice]

Even with a 3nm Astrodon, which is as moon proof as Ha filters get, I don't bother at all for the most moonlit week of the month.

Olly