9hrs of exposure and not a lot to show for it!

[simmo39]

Hi all, weather been so pants! anyway on the nights I could see some stars i was out with my trusty SW130 pds. I picked a target that I thought would be a nice little number! with the poor seeing and a very dim  target it went from a quick one to a 9 hrs epic!  with still not a lot to show for it. So here it is NGC 1333 9hrs at iso 800 over 3 days. 

Hints and tips welcome.

[wxsatuser]

I would say for a dslr thats not to bad.

Think there is more in the processing to come out.

[Waldemar]

Absolutely great target!! And a beautiful image! I love the dark nebulae. More will come out with even longer exposure time and like WXSatuser said more processing.

[simmo39]

54 minutes ago, wxsatuser said:

I would say for a dslr thats not to bad.

Think there is more in the processing to come out.

Thanks, dont think i could do another 9hrs on this target, I might add a little more if the fog clears.

 

52 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

Absolutely great target!! And a beautiful image! I love the dark nebulae. More will come out with even longer exposure time and like WXSatuser said more processing.

Thank you. im sure somebody with more skill could do wonders with this target but its got me! lol

[Starlight 1]

This first thing I see is signal-to-noise which is very low but if you double the hours you will probably increase by 30% and every time you double the percentage will be less . But will make processing much easier. Very nice image well done.  best images on here are around 25 to 35 hours so in my personal opinions this is a cut of point. I'm sure someone  will come along with the knowledge to correct me if I'm wrong.

[StargeezerTim]

Congrats on getting 9 hours! That's a couple more than I have ever got in any one image. You have also got a very nice image. I remember having a go at this myself over a year ago and being underwhelmed by it...

Yours is much better than mine! Hope you don't mind, I had a little play in PS, mainly boosted colour, some smoothing and using the 'detail' slider in the Camera Raw filter. Its a bit punchier now. Must try again myself if I ever get to see clear skies again...

[simmo39]

39 minutes ago, StargeezerTim said:

Congrats on getting 9 hours! That's a couple more than I have ever got in any one image. You have also got a very nice image. I remember having a go at this myself over a year ago and being underwhelmed by it...

Yours is much better than mine! Hope you don't mind, I had a little play in PS, mainly boosted colour, some smoothing and using the 'detail' slider in the Camera Raw filter. Its a bit punchier now. Must try again myself if I ever get to see clear skies again...

Hi Tim, thanks for the pointers and the work. Will have another play myself but at the moment i have had enough of it, think i need a break from it. going bog eyed!

[PatrickGilliland]

It's a tough target and while it has been clear if your skies have been like mine seeing has not been great.  If this is the case it is good work on a hard target.

Given poor seeing it's a good effort - this one really needs good seeing or better to realise all the extra detail and dust.  

Paddy

[simmo39]

8 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

It's a tough target and while it has been clear if your skies have been like mine seeing has not been great.  If this is the case it is good work on a hard target.

Given poor seeing it's a good effort - this one really needs good seeing or better to realise all the extra detail and dust.  

Paddy

Hi Paddy, thanks. Seeing has been poor her for about a month, lots of high mist. I think i bit off to much with this target but it is all a learning experience. once Orion has cleared the garage i will have a play with a few easyer targets.

[simmo39]

Well after food and rest I had another stir of the data. Not sure if its any better but till i get some more data im saying thats it for now.

[andyo]

Thats a good image for a tough target well done

[StargeezerTim]

1 hour ago, simmo39 said:

Well after food and rest I had another stir of the data. Not sure if its any better but till i get some more data im saying thats it for now.

I don't think you realise how good this is! I was inspired to have another go at my data from last year and its not a patch on your image. 

[StuartJPP]

Yep, seeing has been really rubbish (well for me at least), so hats off to this attempt.

I did 5.5 hours on this on Bonfire night, which was a lot clearer than recent nights even though you wouldn't have thought it.

[Barry-Wilson]

This is a very good result for this target as everyone has said - well done!  You should be very pleased with your image - great framing and guiding, balanced colour and spot-on focus.

For me, the detail of NGC1333 if combined with the background sky of your first iteration would be an ideal combination . . .

[simmo39]

5 hours ago, andyo said:

Thats a good image for a tough target well done

 

Thanks for the comment, I must admit that when i picked the target i had no idea what a pain it would be.

5 hours ago, StargeezerTim said:

I don't think you realise how good this is! I was inspired to have another go at my data from last year and its not a patch on your image. 

Thanks Tim, I think o have a bad case of trying to run before I can walk! lol

 

24 minutes ago, StuartJPP said:

Yep, seeing has been really rubbish (well for me at least), so hats off to this attempt.

I did 5.5 hours on this on Bonfire night, which was a lot clearer than recent nights even though you wouldn't have thought it.

Thanks Stuart, its one of those targets that looks brilliant when done well but not realizing how hard it is to do has had me pulling what little hair i have left out!

 

15 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

This is a very good result for this target as everyone has said - well done!  You should be very pleased with your image - great framing and guiding, balanced colour and spot-on focus.

For me, the detail of NGC1333 if combined with the background sky of your first iteration would be an ideal combination . . .

Thanks Barry, I am pleased with it in a sort of frustrated way. You know how it is, you always think you could have done better. With what im using and the time on target i should be happy,lol   but......... lol

[simmo39]

5 hours ago, andyo said:

Thats a good image for a tough target well done

Thanks Andy