Perseus Molecular Cloud Re Process (9 hr stack added)

[Allinthehead]

Since i began taking images of the night sky about 3 years ago i can't remember a period of cloud as bad as this in the South of Ireland. I think it's been about 6 weeks since i've had a chance to capture some photons. With withdrawal symptoms really kicking in i decided to revisit this image. Looking at it with fresh eyes it seemed over saturated, over stretched and the stars suffered as a result. I went for a less is more approach with the new image.  

I captured this data over two nights in October

220 * 150 second subs with the Takahashi Epsilon and Zwo 071 

Mounted on an AzEq6

Captured using Sequence Generator Pro

Processed in PS, APP and PI. Stacked in APP.

I'd love to hear your opinions on this even if you preferred the original, don't be shy?

Richard.

Original

Re Process

[alexbb]

I like the original more, Richard. I don't mind neither the slightly larger stars and in the reprocess they seem as they lost some brightness. Both are beautiful, though!

Maybe on  the original you could reduce the colour noise a tad more, I've no other ideas how to improve.

[vlaiv]

Re Process for me please

Like the noise control and "darkness" of the dark nebula better.

[Allinthehead]

19 minutes ago, moise212 said:

I like the original more, Richard. I don't mind neither the slightly larger stars and in the reprocess they seem as they lost some brightness. Both are beautiful, though!

Maybe on  the original you could reduce the colour noise a tad more, I've no other ideas how to improve.

Thanks Alex. I see what you mean about the stars. 

12 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Re Process for me please

Like the noise control and "darkness" of the dark nebula better.

Thanks Vlaiv. I think i agree, it's a dark nebula after all and maybe should be presented as such.

[Allinthehead]

I've uploaded the stack to Dropbox if anyone wants a play.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uilt5k62w8wyoke/Light_pollution_removed_no_stretch-NoSt.tiff?dl=0

[Xiga]

Both images are amazing Richard. 

I prefer the noise in the re-process, but i also like the faint dust visible in the upper-right of the original. Maybe something between the two?

ps - There's a wee galaxy towards the lower-left, which i just loved finding 

[Seanelly]

I think the answer lies somewhere between the two, but for this green amateur, they both have incredible merit.

[almcl]

Richard

Thank you so much for sharing the data, I dream of getting something this good to work with and while I can't match your output (both of which appear very similar on my cheap uncalibrated monitor) it is never the less great to discover what can be done with really clean data in StarTools and Corel Photo-Paint!

[Allinthehead]

On 14/01/2019 at 00:29, Xiga said:

Both images are amazing Richard. 

I prefer the noise in the re-process, but i also like the faint dust visible in the upper-right of the original. Maybe something between the two?

ps - There's a wee galaxy towards the lower-left, which i just loved finding 

Thanks Ciaran. Good spot

 

On 14/01/2019 at 04:04, Seanelly said:

I think the answer lies somewhere between the two, but for this green amateur, they both have incredible merit.

Thanks Seanelly. Glad you like them.

 

On 14/01/2019 at 09:13, almcl said:

Richard

Thank you so much for sharing the data, I dream of getting something this good to work with and while I can't match your output (both of which appear very similar on my cheap uncalibrated monitor) it is never the less great to discover what can be done with really clean data in StarTools and Corel Photo-Paint!

Thanks. Delighted you found it useful. You should post your result here.

[almcl]

4 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

Thanks. Delighted you found it useful. You should post your result here.

Not sure it's quite in the same league, but here you go:

[ollypenrice]

I would go back to this one for more data when the season comes, Richard. Firstly Ha would be a massive benefit. Because the Ha input is stronger in the original, that's the one I prefer. More data would also let you pull out some golden stars in the reflection nebula to the left.

I remember finding this an incredible challenge to process and your excellent image makes me want to go back and try again. The object(s) are fabulous.

Olly

[clarkpm4242]

Less is definitely more... 

Though I'm always one for a more nuanced, deft and light touch.  Pity I don't have such a thing.

Thanks for posting.

Paul

[Xiga]

On 13/01/2019 at 12:57, Allinthehead said:

I've uploaded the stack to Dropbox if anyone wants a play.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uilt5k62w8wyoke/Light_pollution_removed_no_stretch-NoSt.tiff?dl=0

Thanks for sharing the data Richard! I echo your thoughts on our weather this winter, it's been no better for us up here in the North either ☹️

I had a blast processing this! I've never really processed dust before, and it was a joy to work with data this good!

I seem to have ended up with something that's all together brighter and more colourful, lol. Eek! Not sure how i feel about it tbh, i went back and forth a fair bit before settling on this one. All done in PS btw. 

Bravo on your star handling btw. This is something i am going to have to improve on. I'm used to doing NB, so i still find dense RGB star fields quite a challenge, albeit a fun one ?

Cheers!

 

[vlaiv]

42 minutes ago, Xiga said:

Thanks for sharing the data Richard! I echo your thoughts on our weather this winter, it's been no better for us up here in the North either ☹️

I had a blast processing this! I've never really processed dust before, and it was a joy to work with data this good!

I seem to have ended up with something that's all together brighter and more colourful, lol. Eek! Not sure how i feel about it tbh, i went back and forth a fair bit before settling on this one. All done in PS btw. 

Bravo on your star handling btw. This is something i am going to have to improve on. I'm used to doing NB, so i still find dense RGB star fields quite a challenge, albeit a fun one ?

Cheers!

 

Although I'm not a fan of such bright rendition of dark nebulae - this one is exceptional!

It's got amazing 3D feel to it, it really portrays stuff just floating out there in endless layers of complexity.

[tooth_dr]

~Thanks Richard for the excellent data, it was a pleasure to work with it.

Here is my version:

 

[Allinthehead]

On 15/01/2019 at 18:32, almcl said:

Not sure it's quite in the same league, but here you go:

Good effort. You should have a look at Astro Pixel Processor. You can do some processing with it as well as stacking, mosaics etc. Well worth the investment.

On 15/01/2019 at 20:06, ollypenrice said:

I would go back to this one for more data when the season comes, Richard. Firstly Ha would be a massive benefit. Because the Ha input is stronger in the original, that's the one I prefer. More data would also let you pull out some golden stars in the reflection nebula to the left.

I remember finding this an incredible challenge to process and your excellent image makes me want to go back and try again. The object(s) are fabulous.

Olly

Thanks Olly. I'll hopefully get a chance to revisit next year.

23 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Less is definitely more... 

Though I'm always one for a more nuanced, deft and light touch.  Pity I don't have such a thing.

Thanks for posting.

Paul

Cheers Paul. I'm with you on that.

23 hours ago, Xiga said:

Thanks for sharing the data Richard! I echo your thoughts on our weather this winter, it's been no better for us up here in the North either ☹️

I had a blast processing this! I've never really processed dust before, and it was a joy to work with data this good!

I seem to have ended up with something that's all together brighter and more colourful, lol. Eek! Not sure how i feel about it tbh, i went back and forth a fair bit before settling on this one. All done in PS btw. 

Bravo on your star handling btw. This is something i am going to have to improve on. I'm used to doing NB, so i still find dense RGB star fields quite a challenge, albeit a fun one ?

Cheers!

 

That's Beautifully done. I only had hints of that blue in my original.

22 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

~Thanks Richard for the excellent data, it was a pleasure to work with it.

Here is my version:

 

Excellently processed, very like my version although you probably managed to get more colour in the stars.

[wimvb]

On 14/01/2019 at 01:29, Xiga said:

Both images are amazing Richard. 

I prefer the noise in the re-process, but i also like the faint dust visible in the upper-right of the original. Maybe something between the two?

ps - There's a wee galaxy towards the lower-left, which i just loved finding 

There are more:

at least three in this view

[ollypenrice]

On 15/01/2019 at 21:59, Xiga said:

Thanks for sharing the data Richard! I echo your thoughts on our weather this winter, it's been no better for us up here in the North either ☹️

I had a blast processing this! I've never really processed dust before, and it was a joy to work with data this good!

I seem to have ended up with something that's all together brighter and more colourful, lol. Eek! Not sure how i feel about it tbh, i went back and forth a fair bit before settling on this one. All done in PS btw. 

Bravo on your star handling btw. This is something i am going to have to improve on. I'm used to doing NB, so i still find dense RGB star fields quite a challenge, albeit a fun one ?

Cheers!

 

That's a great job. Right on the money. When I went back to the one I did here with Mr and Mrs Gnomus I found it had 34 hours of data including high res for the reflection nebula. Easy it ain't.

Olly

[peter shah]

beautiful image. stunning processing one of my favorite objects

[Allinthehead]

On 17/01/2019 at 08:35, peter shah said:

beautiful image. stunning processing one of my favorite objects

Thanks Peter mine too.

[MartinFransson]

On 13/01/2019 at 12:10, Allinthehead said:

Since i began taking images of the night sky about 3 years ago i can't remember a period of cloud as bad as this in the South of Ireland. I think it's been about 6 weeks since i've had a chance to capture some photons. With withdrawal symptoms really kicking in i decided to revisit this image. Looking at it with fresh eyes it seemed over saturated, over stretched and the stars suffered as a result. I went for a less is more approach with the new image.  

I captured this data over two nights in October

220 * 150 second subs with the Takahashi Epsilon and Zwo 071 

Mounted on an AzEq6

Captured using Sequence Generator Pro

Processed in PS, APP and PI. Stacked in APP.

I'd love to hear your opinions on this even if you preferred the original, don't be shy?

Richard.

Original

 

Re Process

 

6 weeks?! Try a little over 2 months. That´s my time away from imaging due to weather. Got back on the horse last night though

I too prefer the original, due to its "punch" with the colours and contrast. The reprocessed one is cleaner and smoother but I still like the pure wow-factor of the first one. Both are top class images!

[Jkulin]

Beautiful image Richard, just a quick question, are you artificially adding your diffraction spikes or does the WO Star 71 really produce them?

[vlaiv]

3 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

Beautiful image Richard, just a quick question, are you artificially adding your diffraction spikes or does the WO Star 71 really produce them?

I think you misread equipment list - Tak Epsilon + ZWO ASI071

Epsilon has secondary spider as it is hyperbolic primary + sub aperture corrector.

[Jkulin]

8 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I think you misread equipment list - Tak Epsilon + ZWO ASI071

Epsilon has secondary spider as it is hyperbolic primary + sub aperture corrector.

Thanks Vlaiv, yes I was reading Richards Equipment list at the bottom, my error.

[Allinthehead]

2 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Thanks Vlaiv, yes I was reading Richards Equipment list at the bottom, my error.

`Yes sorry John. I've tried on multiple occasions to update that sig but it won't let me for some reason. Something to do with those badges.