Sunflower galaxy

[alan4908]

My first go with my Esprit 150 at the Sunflower galaxy.  The image is an LRGB composition and represents just over 10 hours integration time. 

Post processing followed by normal workflow with the exception that I found that the very bright stars required special attention to keep them under control. 

Alan 

 

LIGHTS: L:11, R:19, G:15. B:17 x 600s, DARKS:30, FLATS:40, BIAS:100 all at -20C.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice results. Lots of detail and faint structure captured

[alan4908]

4 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Very nice results. Lots of detail and faint structure captured

Thanks Michael ! 

Alan

[Demonperformer]

First time I have noticed the nebulosity that looks as if it might be an outlying end of the bottom right arm? Going to go and check other photos now to see if they help identify exactly what it is. 

I like photos that give me something new to investigate. Nice one. 

[wimvb]

Lovely image. And yes, there's definitely more to be discovered in the outer regions

https://www.flickr.com/photos/olegbr/31438368534

You could combine all your subs to make a super luminance. Stretch that to the extreme, and you might be surprised.

[Tom OD]

lovely colour to the galaxy.

Tom

[Jedi2014]

Nice color and great detail. The faint outer regions need much more exposure time, to make them visible. You did a nice job.

Jens

[Rodd]

About as good as it gets.  Nice job

Rodd

[The Admiral]

Very pretty image, and lots of other DSOs in the field. Nice.

What is the diagonal line at the 3 o'clock position?

Ian

[Star101]

Lovely image.

Thats a great shot. Nice detail too.

[Allinthehead]

Very nice Sunflower.

[alan4908]

17 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

First time I have noticed the nebulosity that looks as if it might be an outlying end of the bottom right arm? Going to go and check other photos now to see if they help identify exactly what it is. 

I like photos that give me something new to investigate. Nice one. 

Thanks for the comment DP and good luck with your investigation, there's quite a lot of faint dust around this galaxy.

17 hours ago, wimvb said:

Lovely image. And yes, there's definitely more to be discovered in the outer regions

https://www.flickr.com/photos/olegbr/31438368534

You could combine all your subs to make a super luminance. Stretch that to the extreme, and you might be surprised.

Thanks wimvb. Yes, it's definitely dusty around here !

Thanks for the suggestions. I've previously experimented with super luminance and extreme stretching techniques with the objective of revealing the last dust particle or IFN, however,I've generally found that the end result is less aesthetically appealing that a moderately stretched version.  Perhaps I need more practice.  

16 hours ago, Tom OD said:

lovely colour to the galaxy.

Tom

Yes, I also like the way the colour has turned out in the galaxy. I did find it difficult to get colour into the brighter stars.

16 hours ago, Jedi2014 said:

Nice color and great detail. The faint outer regions need much more exposure time, to make them visible. You did a nice job.

Jens

Thanks Jens.

12 hours ago, Rodd said:

About as good as it gets.  Nice job

Rodd

Thanks Rodd ! 

10 hours ago, The Admiral said:

Very pretty image, and lots of other DSOs in the field. Nice.

What is the diagonal line at the 3 o'clock position?

Ian

Thanks Ian - well, assuming we are looking at the same thing, it looks like a distant faint galaxy that is shining through the dust (see below)

10 hours ago, Star101 said:

Lovely image.

Thats a great shot. Nice detail too.

Thanks, I was happy with the amount of detail that I managed to acquire. 

9 hours ago, Allinthehead said:

Very nice Sunflower.

Thanks !

Alan

[The Admiral]

30 minutes ago, alan4908 said:

Thanks Ian - well, assuming we are looking at the same thing, it looks like a distant faint galaxy that is shining through the dust (see below)

Wow! Thanks Alan.

[gorann]

What a great galaxy shot! Cannot be done much better than that.

DHL parcel tracking indicate that my Esprit 150 is arriving from FLO tomorrow - but clouds and a rapidly brightening night sky may mean that I will have to use it for bird watching until September....

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, alan4908 said:

Thanks wimvb. Yes, it's definitely dusty around here !

Thanks for the suggestions. I've previously experimented with super luminance and extreme stretching techniques with the objective of revealing the last dust particle or IFN, however,I've generally found that the end result is less aesthetically appealing that a moderately stretched version.  Perhaps I need more practice.   ! 

 

That's my experience also. But it's a good way to see if it's worthwhile gathering more data. As Jens wrote, to get the faint dust, you need a much longer integration time. There are techniques to help. One such is described by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in "Lessons from the Masters", or here:

http://blog.deepskycolors.com/archivo/2010/05/07/multi-scale-Processing--Revealing-very.html

[alan4908]

11 hours ago, gorann said:

What a great galaxy shot! Cannot be done much better than that.

DHL parcel tracking indicate that my Esprit 150 is arriving from FLO tomorrow - but clouds and a rapidly brightening night sky may mean that I will have to use it for bird watching until September....

Thanks Gorann, the Esprit 150 does seem to delver the goods particularly well on galaxy objects.

Good luck for tomorrow !

Alan

10 hours ago, wimvb said:

That's my experience also. But it's a good way to see if it's worthwhile gathering more data. As Jens wrote, to get the faint dust, you need a much longer integration time. There are techniques to help. One such is described by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in "Lessons from the Masters", or here:

http://blog.deepskycolors.com/archivo/2010/05/07/multi-scale-Processing--Revealing-very.html

Yes, I agree. The book "Lessons from the Masters" you recommend is probably my favorite book on post processing astronomical images, it is something to read several times over.