Adding another M51 to the collection

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

Continued rubbish weather has only allowed for 2 nights imaging of late and these were under a near full moon!  Lovely and clear last night though... Until the fog came in at midnight, you just can't win at the moment (serves me right for being a flatlander).

Reasonably pleased with this considering the moon.  HaLRGB image - Ha @120s = 3hrs 44mins - L 3hr 10min, R 3hr 18min, G 2hrs 3min, B 2hrs 35min all in 60 second subs.  Processed in Siril, with GraXpert and Astrosharp, taken with the Esprit 120 and ASI1600GT.

 

Here's my first attempt at this back in 2021 with the 150p and a Canon 100D, not sure the new one has improved on the old much!

[Adreneline]

Definitely prefer the M51 colours in the new version.

Very different star density between the two images though; I think I prefer the older image stars.

I couldn't resist playing at putting the old stars with the new M51:

Very rough and ready but gives an idea

Hope you don't mind.

Adrian

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

No don't mind at all @Adreneline. Probably could bring more out of the data to increase the density. Had some pretty horrid gradients in the raw data so wonder whether I was just being over cautious or whether the gradient removal killed some off. I'll look again tomorrow.

If my memory serves correctly you helped me out with the first image.

[Ags]

I'm curious, what settings and AI model do you use in Astrosharp?

[Adreneline]

9 hours ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

Probably could bring more out of the data to increase the density.

Stars are tricky things - especially RGB ones 😂 - they are my nemesis, which is why I have a liking for starless NB!

I went a bit mad sharpening and de-stretching so they are not very pretty - my ineptitude.

9 hours ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

If my memory serves correctly you helped me out with the first image.

Your memory is better than mine I am afraid - a few too many grey cells have gone west since then  

Adrian

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

11 hours ago, Adreneline said:

Stars are tricky things - especially RGB ones 😂 - they are my nemesis, which is why I have a liking for starless NB!

How is this version @Adreneline?

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

14 hours ago, Ags said:

I'm curious, what settings and AI model do you use in Astrosharp?

Hi @Ags.  I only sharpen a denoised starless image.  When I use Astrosharp the model I've been using is the PSF Model (Pre-Beta), I leave all of the settings except aggressiveness alone, I reduce that to about 0.4 - 0.5 depending on the image. 

[Adreneline]

2 minutes ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

How is this version

I like this one a lot! Very nice. Great star colours and I love the subtle colours in M51 too.

Adrian

[Zummerzet_Leveller]

Thanks @Adreneline.  Isn't amazing how a 30 min revisit makes all the difference.  Stretched my stars in layers in Gimp, selected the bright big stars and inverted the selection to bring out the more subtle ones using curves.  Amazing how the process flow gets rusty when you're faced with nearly 12 months of cloud!  Fingers crossed though as the weekend looks to be clear...  Probably just jinxed it!