M51 Whirlpool with Esprit 100

[ParallaxPete]

Finally had a clear night to get some imaging done. Only managed to get 2.5 hours before the clouds rolled in, but I'm fairly happy with the result. Anyway, this was 75 x 120s subs using an Optolong L-Pro filter with my Esprit 100 and ASi2600MC Pro.

Really like the wide field the Esprit gives on subjects like this. I have been planning to get an 8" EdgeHD for galaxy work but think I will hold off for a while.

[astro mick]

Very nice too.

I too like the wide field shot + one or two other galaxies in there as well.

Mick.

Edited April 3, 2021 by astro mick

[Chris]

Lovely crisp image! I can't help wonder what it would look like with the red channel dropped a touch and the blue channel raised? but the stars do sparkle like gold which is pretty cool

[ParallaxPete]

3 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Lovely crisp image! I can't help wonder what it would look like with the red channel dropped a touch and the blue channel raised? but the stars do sparkle like gold which is pretty cool

Thank you 🙂

I might have a play later on and try and improve it.

[Chris]

18 minutes ago, ParallaxPete said:

Thank you 🙂

I might have a play later on and try and improve it.

I hope you don't mind me taking a liberty, but I very quickly dipped it into GIMP to bring out the blue stars a bit more. Only a 30-40 second tweak so not perfect, but long enough to see what lovely data you have to play with

Edited April 3, 2021 by Lockie

[ParallaxPete]

18 minutes ago, Lockie said:

I hope you don't mind me taking a liberty, but I very quickly dipped it into GIMP to bring out the blue stars a bit more. Only a 30-40 second tweak so not perfect, but long enough to see what lovely data you have to play with

No problem at all 🙂

Thank you for having a go, that does indeed look much better. I'm always torn between going too subtle or too far when processing, so it's good so get second opinions 🙂

I still need to work on some noise reduction as I'm still struggling to get my backgrounds quite how I want them.

[Chris]

48 minutes ago, ParallaxPete said:

I still need to work on some noise reduction as I'm still struggling to get my backgrounds quite how I want them.

I find the Hue-chroma tool in GIMP handy for reducing background noise. There's a bit of red noise in the background still so I've popped it back into GIMP and dropped the Hue-Chroma to -4. 

I think it's reduced the red noise a bit? 

[ParallaxPete]

49 minutes ago, Lockie said:

I find the Hue-chroma tool in GIMP handy for reducing background noise. There's a bit of red noise in the background still so I've popped it back into GIMP and dropped the Hue-Chroma to -4. 

I think it's reduced the red noise a bit? 

Thank you again 🙂

That's looking a lot better. I am currently using SiriL and then finishing off in GIMP. I haven't played with the Hue-Chroma tool though, something I will definitely look into.

[ParallaxPete]

Spent the evening (and early hours!) re-processing my image from scratch. Much happier with the result now. Thanks to all who offered advice/tips etc.