M101 LRGB

[pyrasanth]

The image below of M101 in LRGB is probably the best I can do this season with the nights drawing in. I just need to work on the stars a bit more & perhaps a few background gradients but I'm fairly happy with the image.

Atik 460 EX Celestron C11 Edge at F7

Baader LRGB Filters

RED           7 Hours 48

GREEN      6 Hours 48

BLUE         3 Hours 20  (A bad night ruined a lot of subs)

UVCUT      15 Hours 30

Total over 33 Hours

The HA layer is not added which is another 12 hours so 45 hours imaging time so far. I need to have one more session to balance the blue.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Jannis]

I think that's a fantastic image, with lots of details and low noise. Can't wait to see how it looks with Ha blended in!

May i ask how bright the Ha data on this target is (assuming you've started capturing it)? I did some Ha capturing here the other day and while i saw the M27 bright and clear, i saw nothing but noise on M101 with the same exposures...

[pyrasanth]

2 minutes ago, Jannis said:

I think that's a fantastic image, with lots of details and low noise. Can't wait to see how it looks with Ha blended in!

May i ask how bright the Ha data on this target is? I did some Ha capturing here the other day and while i saw the M27 bright and clear, i saw nothing but noise on M101 with the same exposures...

Thanks for this. I've just posted the HA version with the above blended in as it look really red. The HA is fairly bright or at least that is relative as I used 24 30 minute subs so the exposure at 2x2 Bin on the Atik 460 was quite substantial- over 12 hours with the few subs I threw away. The sub below is a 30 minute sample to give you an idea as to what you should be looking at. I don't think you will see much with shorter exposures or less sensitivity from not binning.

 

[Jannis]

Well that explains a lot... Thanks for sharing. 

For M27 i got a bright image from 60 sec exposure with gain boosted up. But if this is what you get from a binned 30 min exposure with the Atik 460EX, i think it's safe to say i won't have much luck with my QHY5L on this target. 

[laudropb]

Very nice image.