M106 and companions

[tomato]

Here is my latest effort to image my favourite class of DSOs.

M106 and other galaxies in the nearby FOV. Taken over 3 nights with some high cloud and the moon intruding on the third set. Total integration time 5.9 hrs which is a personal best. Calibrated and stacked in APP, I couldn't get StarTools to load the separate channels, so I combined them in APP and loaded this file into ST for further processing. I have spent quite a few hours in the elusive quest for more detail/less noise, this is about as good as I can make it, I think. There was an annoying flare on the first night's data which is still visible on the LHS of M106 in the final version.

I have attached an earlier Astrometry.net annotated image, I need to get hold of Sky Safari plus or something similar to identify the myriad of smaller, fainter galaxies visible.

Capture details

Esprit 150

Mesu Mount

Moravian G2-8300, Baader LRGB filters

L 25 x 300 s

R 17 x 300 s

G 14 x 300 s

B 15 x 300 s

Thanks for looking

[Guest]

Wow - so many galaxies and looks like some good detail on M106.

David

[x6gas]

Nice capture.

[Barry-Wilson]

Lovely framing of the galaxies on the diagonal and you do have further detail lurking in the image as you suspect.

I am not sure how the image looks on your monitor, however once uploaded on SGL, the background sky is too light and also is strongly blue/mauve.  Simply correcting these two points will render significant improvement.

You could then contemplate next steps.

[tomato]

Thanks Barry, the moment I posted the image after about 3 hrs in front of the monitor  I thought “that’s too light”, and interesting that you are seeing a blue/mauve hue. The  image came out initially on Startools with a massive green bias visually even though the colours were nicely balanced on the histogram, which I have adjusted for but definitely more work needed.

[tomato]

20 hours ago, David_L said:

Wow - so many galaxies and looks like some good detail on M106.

David

 

5 hours ago, x6gas said:

Nice capture.

Thank you for your comments, I will have another look at it and see if I can improve the colour and brightness.

[tooth_dr]

That’s a really nice image. Lots of detail in many of the galaxies. 

[ollypenrice]

Very good and, I'm sure, likely to get even better. Like Barry I feel you'll get more impact with the black point brought in.

For information, a deep Ha layer would add some sensational details, not just a 'string of rubies' in the spiral arms but a faint jet or two perpendicular to the disk. These make for a very exciting capture.

Olly

[tomato]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions on how to improve. I have gone back and worked on the background, maybe gone too far and clipped it now?

Hats off to you expert processors out there, I have a long way to go.

[wimvb]

The background looks much better now. A good thing about digital astrophotography is that once you've collected the data, you're no longer dependent on the weather. Images can be reprocessed at any time. And as you learn new methods, you can revisit old data.

Have fun.

[Barry-Wilson]

Much better now - maybe even a touch darker?

Next - the colours need balancing and you can see this from referencing web images and making a comparison with your, eg M106's core colour is more orange/red and less yellow, the turquoise blue you have is more cobalt.  Is there a histogram tool in StarTools to allow you to do this?

HTH

[tomato]

There is indeed a RGB histogram in the colour tool in Startools. You can adjust the bias on each channel which does affect the colour mix. There is also an option to cap the green channel to yellow or brown, on the basis that many DSOs (and especially galaxies?) do not emit much green light. I chose the yellow option, but I’ll experiment with the brown.

[tomato]

And this I promise is the final version (at least for time being). I have now blown the core out of M106 but I think I can say this is the best version of the three, so I feel I have learnt quite a bit on way.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and encouraging comments?

 

[Barry-Wilson]

?

[wimvb]

? indeed

[peter shah]

great start and even better finish.... I love this part of the sky and you have imaged it really well

[tomato]

Thanks Peter, I do tend to stay in my comfort zone in the processing phase and consequently not get everything I could out of the data, but prompted by the replies on this thread I feel I have taken a couple of steps forward. 

Now just waiting for the moon to rise late and a gap in the clouds...

[wimvb]

21 hours ago, tomato said:

And this I promise is the final version (at least for time being).

you'd be the first. 

 

21 hours ago, tomato said:

I have now blown the core out of M106

As long as the core isn't blown out in the stacked linear image, you can save it in post processing. That will be the next final version. ?

[ollypenrice]

I like to measure my background sly in Ps using the colour sampler tool. If it ain't 23/23/23 I get anxious!!! It raraly is with my Atik 460 images so I settle for 20/20/20 but not with a clear conscience...

Olly

[Allinthehead]

That final version is great.