M81/82 - First real attempt using the ASI533MC Pro

[Sarek]

I recently picked up an ASI533MC Pro (secondhand from classifieds).  Of course that led to the inevitable and seemingly endless stream of cloudy nights. Anyway the curse was lifted last night and I was able to get it out for a 1.5 hrs (20x 300 seconds)

This image was stacked & processed in PI using flats, darks and dark flats - I thought I'd start getting a full set so I can experiment later.

I'm going to have another go at processing to see what can be done with star bloating etc

[WolfieGlos]

Really good for 1.5 hours, nice job Sarek. The 533 looks like it’s working well for you. Is that still using your 72ed?

[pipnina]

Looking good! I dare say as well, that I think despite the short exposure you have detected a little IFN!

I recognise this very faint 'M' shape, barely visible. But it is part of the IFN around M81! Not bad for only 1.5 hours of RGB

To take it a little further, I could recommend tweaking the colour balance to make the image a bit warmer, as it seems a bit cool at present.

Happy imaging!

[Sarek]

1 hour ago, WolfieGlos said:

Really good for 1.5 hours, nice job Sarek. The 533 looks like it’s working well for you. Is that still using your 72ed?

Thank you. Yes, still using the 72ed. I'd originally planned to get a bigger scope before upgrading to an astro camera but one came up in the classifieds that was too good to miss.

[Sarek]

37 minutes ago, pipnina said:

Looking good! I dare say as well, that I think despite the short exposure you have detected a little IFN!

I recognise this very faint 'M' shape, barely visible. But it is part of the IFN around M81! Not bad for only 1.5 hours of RGB

To take it a little further, I could recommend tweaking the colour balance to make the image a bit warmer, as it seems a bit cool at present.

Happy imaging!

Thank you. I must admit I'd not heard of IFNs before - very interesting.

You're certainly right about the colour balance. 

 

[Sarek]

A little play with the colour. First time I've tried using Pixel Math to help. Not so happy with it but I'm learning lots along the way!  This hobby sure eats up the hours!

[pipnina]

41 minutes ago, Sarek said:

A little play with the colour. First time I've tried using Pixel Math to help. Not so happy with it but I'm learning lots along the way!  This hobby sure eats up the hours!

 

I just noticed you process in Pix, is your SPCC still not working as per the other thread? I have found once that has been done I basically need not touch the colour besides some saturation tweaking.

 

[Sarek]

23 minutes ago, pipnina said:

I just noticed you process in Pix, is your SPCC still not working as per the other thread? I have found once that has been done I basically need not touch the colour besides some saturation tweaking.

 

Actually this version was using a semi automated script. I'm not sure whether that included SPCC but the colour was defintely cooler than this tweaked version and didn't seem right. I'm going to have a dive into the script parameters to get a better understanding.