Hubble Bubble v2 + NGC7538 and SH2-159

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I recently downloaded a trail of noise exterminator (which I now completely love!), and went through a reprocess of my bubble image from last year, plus a couple of extras. These are crops from the same SHO stacks - I'll be working on the full image next, although I'm not very good at processing wider field shots, so that may never be finished!!

Approx 12hrs, split equally between Ha, Oiii and Sii.

Let me know your thoughts!

Bubble:

I always get comments on my magenta stars, but I feel they are appropriate in some images (i.e. hubble recreations) - their inclusion in this one is deliberate. 

 

NGC7538:

 

SH2-159:

I liked the structures in this, but I don't think it stands up too well to zooming into it. I think because it's fainter the other two above, I've pushed it a little too hard.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Follow up: If anyone has any comments on my application of noise exterminator (particularly on the fainter background dust) I'd like to hear them - unsure if I've taken it a step too far or not. 

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Bump to fish for some NoiseX application comments*, particularly in the fainter dust regions on the NGC7538 and SH2-159 images. 

*or any other comments - all critique is welcome!!

[tooth_dr]

Love the bubble!  Looks like a sea creature in between seaweed!  Magenta stars are a no from me though!

[geeklee]

1 hour ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Bump to fish for some NoiseX application comments*, particularly in the fainter dust regions on the NGC7538 and SH2-159 images. 

At this resolution (as they're crops) it looks OK to me.  Well done with NGC7538 - so many images have this blown out completely but separate care is usually needed on it to preserve detail.  The noise reduction looks a little more noticeable in the diffuse surrounding nebulosity of Sh2-159 but again looks OK.

I guess when the whole image come together it'll be more obvious across the frame and faint stuff whether the NR is too strong.  I'm biased towards liking a little grain in my images.

What "strength" do you use for NoiseX?

Edited January 5, 2023 by geeklee

[The Lazy Astronomer]

7 hours ago, geeklee said:

At this resolution (as they're crops) it looks OK to me.  Well done with NGC7538 - so many images have this blown out completely but separate care is usually needed on it to preserve detail.  The noise reduction looks a little more noticeable in the diffuse surrounding nebulosity of Sh2-159 but again looks OK.

I guess when the whole image come together it'll be more obvious across the frame and faint stuff whether the NR is too strong.  I'm biased towards liking a little grain in my images.

What "strength" do you use for NoiseX?

Thanks, l wasn't sure if I'd gone a bit too far with NoiseX - I have quite an aversion to visible grain, and l think I tend to end up pushing too much towards the plastic look sometimes. 

There were a couple of applications, the first was done on the individual channels while linear. I also used an inverse luminance mask on the oiii and sii as the overall signal was quite weak, so l used a high strength (I think it may even have been at full strength for oiii) but that gave too much noise reduction on the higher regions of signal. The second dose was done when near to image completion to help with the noise introduced during stretching.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

9 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Love the bubble!  Looks like a sea creature in between seaweed!  Magenta stars are a no from me though!

Thanks very much - I know magenta stars are a contentious issue, but I honestly don't know why. Obviously they're not natural, but then very little about the hubble palette is. 

[geeklee]

19 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Magenta stars are a no from me though!

9 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

I know magenta stars are a contentious issue, but I honestly don't know why.

For me, they're quite distracting.  As soon as the image opens and while trying to enjoy it, there's just these bright, glaring magenta stars everywhere pulling your view towards them.

I understand what you're saying about the palette though.

10 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

I have quite an aversion to visible grain

🙂 I find that a tiny bit of grain seems to trick my eyes into thinking there's a little more detail.  Like magenta stars, it's great we all have our own preferences 👍

[The Lazy Astronomer]

11 hours ago, geeklee said:

For me, they're quite distracting.  As soon as the image opens and while trying to enjoy it, there's just these bright, glaring magenta stars everywhere pulling your view towards them.

I get your point there, I too actually find the magenta stars distracting in wider shots or very star filled regions, but in closer crops with the stars pushed a bit more into the background I think they add rather than detract. That's one of the beauties of narrowband imaging though l guess - colours are all very much to personal taste.