M13 - Last one of the season

[Xiga]

Hi guys

I thought the DSO season was well and truly over for me, but the weather's been unusually clear here in N.I for the last while that i just couldn't help myself ?

So even though there is no astro dark at this time of year up here at 54 degrees N, i decided i wouldn't let that stop me try for one last target. There was also a very big bright moon up as well, so i figured M13 was pretty much the only viable target for me. Of course, with just a wee SW 80ED to work with (at 510mm FL) i knew i didn't really have the FL to do this one justice, but having never shot a Globular Cluster before i was still excited to give it a go. So here it is:

Shot on May 24 from Crumlin, N.Ireland

20 * 420s with the IDAS-D1 at  ISO 200

10 * 60s with the IDAS-D1 at  ISO 200

All frames dithered aggressively every frame

Usual gear, Nikon D5300 on a HEQ5-Pro, guided with a QHY5 and PHD2, and captured with SGP. 

AstroPixelProcessor used for stacking, gradient reduction, and star colour calibration. Everything else done in Photoshop. The 60s subs were used just for the core. 

I'm kind of pleased with how it came out. Although i'm not completely sure tbh, as this is new ground for me, and if there's one area the wee 80ED does struggle a tad with it's with stars, and with a globular there's certainly nowhere to hide on that front!

Also attached is a 100% crop showing just the globular cluster itself. 

C&C most welcome as always. 

Cheers guys!

 

[MarsG76]

Awesome globular...

[simmo39]

V nice and crisp!

[Trevor N]

Looks spot on to me . Excellent shot. Trevor

[Xiga]

Thanks guys.

I noticed that the Jpeg version that i uploaded seems to have some large red blotches throughout the background. Much bigger than the usual colour blotching that you often see with DSLR's. As it only shows up in the Jpeg version, i can only guess that perhaps i removed too much colour noise from the background (i did go a bit OTT if i'm being honest) and when it gets saved to Jpeg then maybe there's not enough information left over for the conversion? Just a guess.

So I had another go at improving the background, hopefully this one looks better. To my eyes at least it does  seem like the weird colour cast to the background is gone. Would be good to hear what you guys think. I also raised the background level more in this most recent version, as in hindsight i think i dropped the black point a bit too much. The outer regions of the globular cluster are also more prominent now too. 

 

[bluedandelion]

Nicely done!

Ajay

[Ags]

There's a lot to like with this image. There is strong color in the foreground stars and in the globular as well. There's a wee little galaxy at around 19.30 from the glob. Very nice!

[ollypenrice]

Super. Excellent separation of star colours.

Olly

[orion25]

You brilliantly captured one of my favorite globulars! Great color and resolution. Like a stellar soup, lol!

Reggie

[Xiga]

On ‎05‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 06:05, bluedandelion said:

Nicely done!

Ajay

Thanks you Ajay

On ‎05‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 07:08, Ags said:

There's a lot to like with this image. There is strong color in the foreground stars and in the globular as well. There's a wee little galaxy at around 19.30 from the glob. Very nice!

Thanks for pointing this out Ags! I had totally missed that wee tiny galaxy as it is only visible at close quarters. Cheers!

23 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Super. Excellent separation of star colours.

Olly

Thanks Olly.

10 hours ago, orion25 said:

You brilliantly captured one of my favorite globulars! Great color and resolution. Like a stellar soup, lol!

Reggie

Thanks Reggie. It's one of my favourite too. With no Omega Centauri for us Northerners, M13 isn't a bad alternative ?

[geoflewis]

Cracking images of one of my favourite DSOs. The huge crop really stood up well showing what a great capture you got 

[Xiga]

After reviewing a few other images of Globular Clusters, i realised that the framing of such objects is much more aesthetically pleasing when set off-centre. So i applied a final crop, and seeing as i was already in PS i decided to clean up the noise a tad more too. I think it has helped. Think being the operative word!

 

[geoflewis]

6 hours ago, Xiga said:

i realised that the framing of such objects is much more aesthetically pleasing when set off-centre

Hi Ciarán,

I guess each person has their own preferences, but for me the offset doesn't work as well - maybe put it down to my OCD, but I keep wanting to drag it back to the center of frame. Sorry...?

Geof