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M81 / M82 First Go


imakebeer

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The months have kept rolling by since I started AP last October and old faves like M31 and M33 have disappeared for now, but new targets are coming into view.

I got the gear out for the first time in ages the other night. Unfortunately I was a bit rushed setting up because reasons and things went a bit awry and I ended up taking nearly 90 light frames at ISO 25600!!!

Not to be deterred I reset and pointed the scope at M81 / M82 and managed to get an hours worth of data before it clouded over. Ideally I'd do double this but it's a start and I'm quite pleased with the outcome as a starting point.

SW150PDS + HEQ5 + Nikon D5500
60 x 60s at ISO 400 lights + 20 each darks, biases & lights
Processed in Siril and then tweaked in GIMP

In GIMP I had another play using layer masks. They seemed to work well on M42 when I tried them recently though I'm not sure if they're the best for galaxies like M81 but I thought I'd have a go. One thing I've struggled with in the past is once I stretch the histogram to bring out the detail it introduces a lot of noise in the farfield.

If you look closely around M81 & M82 you can still see this noise but the use of layer masks means it doesn't extend across the whole image. As I say I'm pleased with this one as a starting point and I'm excited to try some new targets, but I really want to get to grips with how to bring out more detail.

M81_SIR01C_2023_03_02_MR.thumb.jpg.8fc58d6ab90ba40589d8f97ed697e5ba.jpg

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On 04/03/2023 at 20:00, imakebeer said:

The months have kept rolling by since I started AP last October and old faves like M31 and M33 have disappeared for now, but new targets are coming into view.

I got the gear out for the first time in ages the other night. Unfortunately I was a bit rushed setting up because reasons and things went a bit awry and I ended up taking nearly 90 light frames at ISO 25600!!!

Not to be deterred I reset and pointed the scope at M81 / M82 and managed to get an hours worth of data before it clouded over. Ideally I'd do double this but it's a start and I'm quite pleased with the outcome as a starting point.

SW150PDS + HEQ5 + Nikon D5500
60 x 60s at ISO 400 lights + 20 each darks, biases & lights
Processed in Siril and then tweaked in GIMP

In GIMP I had another play using layer masks. They seemed to work well on M42 when I tried them recently though I'm not sure if they're the best for galaxies like M81 but I thought I'd have a go. One thing I've struggled with in the past is once I stretch the histogram to bring out the detail it introduces a lot of noise in the farfield.

If you look closely around M81 & M82 you can still see this noise but the use of layer masks means it doesn't extend across the whole image. As I say I'm pleased with this one as a starting point and I'm excited to try some new targets, but I really want to get to grips with how to bring out more detail.

M81_SIR01C_2023_03_02_MR.thumb.jpg.8fc58d6ab90ba40589d8f97ed697e5ba.jpg

 @imakebeer  My goodness they're amazing for a beginner and only 1 hour total integration. I would be well pleased with these mate! I'm still struggling with basic nebula pics and now you're knocking out pics like this! Not fair! LOL. 

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