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Work in Progress - M101

RichieJarvis

By RichieJarvis
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Hi All,

After the success the other night, I decided to have a crack at M101.

This is going to be a sequence of postings (I hope.) It would be nice to grab this over several nights, so will see how it goes.

Here is the first 7 L subs - i've got RGB data as well, but that will wait for later on!

This is being shot with the AP102ED using a .66 FR, guided with the GSO 8". Camera is my SXV-H9. 7 x 5 minute subs

Comments welcome :)

Cheers,

Richie

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Tim

Tim

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That's a hell of guide scope Richie!!! :):D

Going by that pic, the finished result should be a cracker. Loads of the faint stuff in the arms has come through.

I hope you do get the follow up data, it's made a change to get a run of clearish weather!

When you post them, could you please post the next ones under this same thread. It will just help to keep the forum looking tidier, and save having several threads all of the same image. I think it is possible to alter the thread title as you go. Thanks for that.

General comment to all > > >

These Work in Progress images are great, they really help new ones to appreciate the steps take in aquiring and processing images, and also how any problems have been overcome. By placing all the images for one target into one thread, these factors can be better appreciated, which will go even further to assist new imagers, and to reinforce SGL's position as the No.1 website for astrophotography in the UK.

Thanks all!

TJ

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Thanks Guys....

Aye TJ - thats the plan... :)

Here is the first colour match - its still running, but here is my first colour combine of the data so far.

This image is 17 x 300 second Luminance frames, and 15 x 100 second RGB frames.

The image was processed by stacking the frames for each channel, and then running DDP. I then moved to Photoshop, curves and levels to taste and merged them. A bit of smoothing on the faint areas with Noise Ninja and a bit of sharpening of the core.

Man, I wish it was quicker to capture subs! This game takes a long time :)

Listen to me complaining like an old woman! LOL

Thanks,

Richie

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Yeah - I know what you mean about OSC. I've pretty much fallen in love with narrowband after the fun I've had with nebs last year. Its nice and easy, only requires 2 subs to give a colour image, brings out the detail beautifully, and is quick.

LRGB is a bit of a pig - 4 subs per channel, binning 2x2 on colour frames, binning 1x1 on L frames - tis a pain! Especially when u factor flat frames into the equation as well.

That being said, I do not take darks - you just dont need to when you have this much raw data, and dither between exposures with the SXV-H9. Sigma combine is the dogs doodahs I say :)

One day I might hookup the DSLR to the scope again and see how I get on.... One day.... Mebbe :):D I've got everything but a PSU for the 350D. And its unmodded. I can't bring myself to butcher a perfectly good daytime camera though!

Cheers,

Richie

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Uh-oh - replying to my own posts..... is that the first or second sign of madness???

Anyway - as promised, here is the processed image from last nights subs. I was out there until 2am, and ended up taking:

L 25x300 seconds

L 9 x 600 seconds

RGB 23 x 100 seconds

Total Time: 13000 seconds (5 hours 30 minutes)

I want to see if I can add some more tonight, and some Ha data as well - fingers crossed for another clear night!

Cheers,

Richie

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Whippy

Whippy

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Uh-oh - replying to my own posts..... is that the first or second sign of madness???

Replying to your own posts is the first sign of madness, the second sign is talking about it :) .....

That's looking good so far Rich, I guess (like me) you're slightly surprised that you need so much data to get some real colour into your galaxies?

Tony..

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Yes - it seems to need a huge amount of colour data to get much colour in there. Thats part of the reason I am hoping to cheat a little (if its cheating??) by taking some 10 minute Ha subs tonight - I'll have to wait until shes right up at the zenith though for maximum effect!

I think tonight I will up the RGB exposure length to 5 minutes, and capture some 10 minute L and 5 minute RGB subs whilst she's low, and then switch to 10 minute Ha subs.....

Does that sound about right? Is there a better (cheaper) way??

Cheers,

Richie

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Whippy

Whippy

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Not cheating at all Rich, data is data is it not? I've used Ha as Luminence or you could blend it into the Red data you already have and get that Red channel really strong. Have a look at this: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/73886-ic-443-jellyfish-nebula-lrgb.html.

If it was me, I'd do the Ha early as it doesn't get affected as much by LP so you could do that while it's low and grab some more LRGB when it's up high and out of the murk.

Tony..

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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thanks guys.

Tony - I'll give that a try then - maybe my Astronomiks are not as parfocal as they are supposed to be then, because the 3 Ha subs I took in the early part of the night were pants! (I focused using the Clear filter.)

Cheers,

Richie

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Whippy

Whippy

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thanks guys.

Tony - I'll give that a try then - maybe my Astronomiks are not as parfocal as they are supposed to be then, because the 3 Ha subs I took in the early part of the night were pants! (I focused using the Clear filter.)

Cheers,

Richie

In fairness Rich, it may not be the filters, it may be your scope. Even though my Baader filters are parfocal, I still re-focus between each filter just to be on the safe side even though my ZS110 has excellent colour correction.

Tony..

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Tim

Tim

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Coming along there Rich.

Did you see that article about increasing the colour via 3 layers in PS? It does so without increasing noise, you just drop two layer copies onto each other, set the blending to soft light on the first and luminosity on the second.

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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No - i hadn't seen that TJ - I just boosted the saturation a little to try and get a bit more colour in this one. I'll have to give that a try.

Anyway, I wasn't happy with the unreal amount of smoothing on that colour image, so have reprocessed again tonight. Same data, just another cut:

2009-03-18-M101-L25x300+9x600-RGB23x100-Full2-Small.jpg

Cheers,

Richie

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