Leo Triplet - just over 30 hrs

[AstroGS]

We have entered now the Galaxy season and the narrowband targets are limited so, a target that I have never imaged before was the Leo Triplet. I am still in the process of learning how to image galaxies through my mono camera - while I was busy with work, the night sky was really good and for that reason I decided to just take as much data as possible. Using my wide field rig (RedCat61 + 2600MM), I managed to capture:

Lum: 254 x 300 sec

RGB: 273 x 120 sec

Used flats, darks and bias

Integrated and processed with PI & PS

 

I am sharing the cropped image.

[wimvb]

Nice!!

The tidal stream of ngc 3628 is just visible.

[AstroGS]

17 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Nice!!

The tidal stream of ngc 3628 is just visible.

Thanks - it is there in the integrated lum image (well defined) but, when stretching i cannot seem to be able to reveal it properly without blowing the centre of the galaxies. Im still experimenting a combination of GHS and Histogram stretching.

[wimvb]

18 minutes ago, AstroGS said:

Im still experimenting a combination of GHS and Histogram stretching.

I've never had much luck with GHS on galaxy images. I use a combination of Histogram stretch, Curve Transformation and HDR Multiscale Transform to control the core

[assouptro]

Simply lovely! 
would sell a relative for 30 hours of clear skies right now! 
 

Thank you for sharing 

Bryan 😊

[dweller25]

Awesome 👍

[ollypenrice]

You should be able to get far more of the long tidal tail to show, though it will run out of the frame on this crop, I think. It will be there in the data. If you have Photoshop,  just go to Image-Adjustments-Equalize and it should leap out. You can't just use that as a processing technique but it will show what you have in the data.

Olly

[AstroGS]

10 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

You should be able to get far more of the long tidal tail to show, though it will run out of the frame on this crop, I think. It will be there in the data. If you have Photoshop,  just go to Image-Adjustments-Equalize and it should leap out. You can't just use that as a processing technique but it will show what you have in the data.

Olly

You are right 😉

I need to see how I can stretch further the image without clipping the core of the galaxies.

 

[WolfieGlos]

Great image, and nice details in the galaxies.

I had the same thought as Olly, I have the stream showing in 12 hours (bortle 4) on my work in progress image, but it’s too noisy to bring out to an acceptable level, so it’ll be good to see if you can get yours to appear 👍

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, AstroGS said:

I need to see how I can stretch further the image without clipping the core of the galaxies.

The stream is about brightness (luminance, if you will), while the background is about colour. There is no ifn, so you can keep the background fairly flat.

With this image, I would probably start by using a very strong dose of MMT on chrominance with a mask protecting the galaxies, on the RGB image, before stretching

As i wrote before, the luminance can be controlled by a combination of Histogram Transformation, Curves Transformation, and HDR compression (HDRMT).

I played around with the image you posted, and came up with this. Just a little more of the tidal stream (it's a jpeg, xisf would be better), but kept detail in the galaxies. No work on the background.

Edited March 17 by wimvb

[AstroGS]

Thanks - I will most definitely try this at some point later this week and see if I can get it to work. I like though this PI sequence that you suggest, it does make sense.

[jjohnson3803]

Very nice!

 

[Clarkey]

 

Great widefield image with some good detail👍

30 hours is more than I have managed all winter☹️

[ollypenrice]

Look at that tail! Go for it!!

Olly