M27 The Dumbell Nebula

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

Hi all.  I got the data for this about a month ago and have only just got round to processing it.  Stacked about 4hrs of good 300 second frames from 8.5hrs taken using the ASI2600MC with my 200PDS + SW coma corrector on the EQ6R-Pro.

Tried a different processing technique by splitting the channels down in star and starless versions, tweaking in Siril, Gimp with a touch of Topaz before recombining in Gimp.  I'd welcome any views or comments.

[gorann]

The nebula looks great! The background sky is a bit brownish - maybe you could see what it looks like if you turn down the red signal a bit, for example by tweaking the curve of the red channel.

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

19 hours ago, gorann said:

The nebula looks great! The background sky is a bit brownish - maybe you could see what it looks like if you turn down the red signal a bit, for example by tweaking the curve of the red channel.

Thanks Göran.  I'll give that a go.  I was a bit concerned about clipping the blacks and think I got carried away.

[kirkster501]

Super M27 with good colour and detail in the nebula and good focus.  I agree with Goran's comments and suggestion about the brown-ish background.  Your stars seem to lack colour as well and I know from imaging this myself that the stars in this area possess plenty of colour.  You could use a mask and increase the colour saturation of the stars.

That is nit-picking on a very nice M27 though.  Well done.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Excellent image, really like the processing

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

 

On 22/09/2021 at 14:27, gorann said:

The nebula looks great! The background sky is a bit brownish - maybe you could see what it looks like if you turn down the red signal a bit, for example by tweaking the curve of the red channel.

A bit of tweaking this evening and I hope I have overcome some of the brown tinge.

6 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Super M27 with good colour and detail in the nebula and good focus.  I agree with Goran's comments and suggestion about the brown-ish background.  Your stars seem to lack colour as well and I know from imaging this myself that the stars in this area possess plenty of colour.  You could use a mask and increase the colour saturation of the stars.

That is nit-picking on a very nice M27 though.  Well done.

Agreed on the star colour.  I've tried to recover some colour in this revised version but can't seem to pull back the blues.

 

6 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Excellent image, really like the processing

Thanks Michael.  It's certainly a learning curve when using free software.  I might one day bite the bullet and get APP or Pixinsight.

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Zummerzet_Leveller

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I find APP well worth its modest price. Very intuitive