M81 & M82 Esprit 100 first light

[david_taurus83]

First complete image with the Esprit 100 and Atik 460 combo. I took a lot of L subs but even 300s subs maybe too much for my crusty old CCD! Pixinsight tries to stretch them too much and the L just washes the galaxies out. Interestingly I did start to pick up on some IFN from my bortle 6 garden but it's still too faint so just looks like colour blotch or a gradient. Processing is a bit tame so may have a go at this again and just concentrate on the galaxies and stars instead of trying to push the background. Have plenty of data so should be able to get something better out of it. Any comments, criticism and advice welcome! 

5 hours each RGB 300s subs

11 hours L 300s subs

7 hours Ha 600s subs

Tame version, stretched Lum and a colour version with full Lum added to it.

 

[Adriano]

Very nice image. Beautiful galaxies. Thanks for sharing.

[wimvb]

11 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Pixinsight tries to stretch them too much

Nice image. Have you tried some of the hdr processes available in PI? HRDMT, LHE, MMT. These can be used to adjust local contrast and still reveal some ifn.

[david_taurus83]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Nice image. Have you tried some of the hdr processes available in PI? HRDMT, LHE, MMT. These can be used to adjust local contrast and still reveal some ifn.

Thanks. Will have to have a look at some of Adam Block's videos. I tried to cheat and combine 3 different stretched images using HDR composition but it didn't work as they are non linear. Combined 3 different stretches in Pixelmath and there is more detail in the core but looked too artificial. Will have a play around with it. I think the IFN is just too faint to break through my LP so may keep background neutral and focus on the galaxies themselves. Overall I'm pleased with the scope 🙂