First attempt at LRGB M33

[MikeCM]

Hi all,

           This is my first attempt at getting image of M33. Managed to get 12 x 300s luminance along with 10 x 300s R , 6 x 300s G and 5 x300s B before the clouds rolled in as always seems to happen.  Quite happy that managed to get subs to complete a full image as well as using flats but know it needs more data. Tried stacking in astroart 6 which worked well but gradient removal did not seem to do the trick. Had quite a problem with the colour balance but would appreciate comments/criticisms.

                                              Cheers Mike

[carastro]

That's come out well.

Carole 

[ollypenrice]

Very promising indeed.

It looks to me as if your red channel is not perfectly aligned. I don't do my colour channel alignment in the Trichromy window where I think it only gets aligned on x and y axes without rotation. (They may have updated this but it's the case on earlier AstroArts for sure.) I align my R, G and B using Image - Align All - Star Pattern Translation and Rotation and I over-ride the default setting to increase the number of stars used to the maximum value of 40. Also I find I get the best results if I make red the top channel - the definitive one - so G and B are aligned to red. Once aligned this way I take the three images into Trichromy.

I don't think your colour balance is far out, just a little too far towards magenta on the magenta-green axis. Or maybe it's just the relative lack of blue data.

Great start to LRGB!

Olly

[MikeCM]

Thanks for the reply Olly I did notice that the red channel was misaligned but was not sure why. I'll try what you suggest and see if I can get things aligned better. I am only just getting to grips with astroart having used deep sky stacker previously ?

[Guest]

Your real achievement for me here is your composition and subtle processing of the galaxy itself.

So many of us (me included) have over processed the galaxy to bring out the internal detail.

It winds up looking like a decal stuck to a star field.

This is usually born of the focus galaxy processing at the expense of background management.

Your example shows none of those flaws with the outer galactic arms whisping out into the background and disappearing without a trace - excellent effort!

As for composition, again, I often see the galaxy aligned to the horizontal plane as if it's being put up for sale.

You've aligned your galaxy diagonally, which although common in more experienced imagers of this galaxy, you got this right the first time out which shows you have a good eye for composition during set up. I often get in a rush and don't focus on this enough as it can take quite a bit of time (usually a half hour for me) to get it right. 

Both of these qualities in your image are exceptional - way to go! ?

David