First serious attempt - M81

[OK Apricot]

Good evening guys,

You might or might not know I'm soon going to be buying a dedicated astro camera. I'm pretty settled on this, and in the mean time I'm having great fun setting up under this spell of clear skies and getting familiar with the basic process. I've not got any of the capturing software going yet, so no image sequencing, polar alignment etc - all this is being done pretty much manually, but as I say, I'm having great fun getting to know my kit and the process itself anyway! A while back I bought the EvoGuide 50ED and ASI120MM-Mini combo so that I have 1) a guiding setup and 2) a wide(er)field scope when it takes my fancy. While I wait to purchase the main camera, I've been having a go with the ASI120. It is a nothing image compared to some of the works of art out there, but I had a more serious go at trying to capture something the other night....

This was half an hour on M81 using my new EQ6-R pro, SW 80ED and ASI120MM, unfiltered from Bortle 6 skies with some dark frames.

Above is nothing but level and curve adjustments. Processing is going to be the biggest learning curve I think, but I was happy to pull a legible image out nonetheless. 

I've been bored this evening waiting to set up again to try and improve things, maybe get some more subs, experiment with sub length and gain etc, so decided to try and see if I could calm the core down a bit. I wasn't sure how to do this but I knew you could 'lasso' areas of an image and change the histogram for that particular area, so had a go and got a dimmer core. Again, nothing amazing but it's special to me as it represents the start of a childhood dream, the start of some real investment into myself and commitment to something longer term.

Feel free to give any pointers about processing, anything really. I'm just glad to be able to share my first more serious attempt!

Cheers!

[Swoop1]

No processing pointers from me as my processing skills rhyme with a large species of freshwater fish!

I will say that it is good to read your obvious joy at getting results from your kit. Well done.

[ollypenrice]

The first one is better and lassoing the core is not the way to do it. You've produced an artificial, star-like bright spot in the middle which certainly doesn't exist. I don't think you need anything fancy with these data but, if you want to get clever, look into  'high dynamic range layer masking.'  Check this out: https://www.astropix.com/html/processing/laymask.html  You don't always need two or more different sub lengths, you can just do two different stretches, one hard and one gentle, and blend them as per the tutorial.

Olly

 

[OK Apricot]

Thanks for the link Olly. It'll be a learning curve but was happy enough. Now you mention it, it does look somewhat manufactured 😅. 

[AstroMuni]

18 hours ago, OK Apricot said:

Feel free to give any pointers about processing, anything really. I'm just glad to be able to share my first more serious attempt!

Cheers!

Thats a great image. The learning curve for processing is the next hurdle but once you get the hang of it, its apparently a breeze ....I am not close to that stage yet 😉

[cajen2]

Don't listen to the nasty people, OKA, I think it looks very nice! 😉