IC 342

[cfpendock]

Just thought I would give this one a try during the recent couple of clear nights.  I used my Tak 106 which gives rather a wide field at 530mm focal length on my Atik 4000. Luminance was 34 x 10 minutes, and the RGB were 16 each of 5 minutes, giving a total of close to 10 hours.  RGB were binned 2x2.   Processed in Photoshop.

Hope you like it - comments  welcomed.

Chris

 

[wimvb]

Great catch. Compared to other galaxies, this is a very faint target. You got great colour in the galaxy, and kept the stars small. Well done.

 Last night (27 dec) I managed to collect some data on this same target. Despite 16 x 20 minutes exposures, I can barely lift it above the noise floor (Pentax K20D at ISO 400). It just shows the advantage of a mono CCD over a DSLR.

Thanks for sharing

[cfpendock]

Thanks Wim.  Two things: 

1. The visibility for the last couple of nights has been appalling.  I was trying for NGC1073 at f10, and I will throw all my subs away.

2. I'm glad you like the stars.  I think there are perhaps too many of them, and I've re-processed with fewer stars.  I'm not sure it's any better.....

Chris

[wimvb]

This image should have stars, in my opinion, since the galaxy is obscured by the Milky Way. I think that if you go for too much star removal, you end up with a very confusing image. The galaxy itself is partly obscured by stars from our own galaxy, which probably can't be removed. There should be a balance between stars in front of the target and around it.

The only star "out of order", is the big blue one in the lower left. Maybe if you desaturate the halo with a mask?