America, America. Fully processed and ready for display

[Catanonia]

Firstly many thanks to all in this section of the forum for guiding me in the right way about exposure times, orientation, filters etc. Physcobilly, Steve54xxxx, Aza and the others.

So last night I took the advice and swapped the ED80 and ED120 around and imaged with the ED80 on NGC7000. Took about 10 mins to get my bearings, but eventually managed to frame fairly ok ready for the images.

Well over 2.5 hours later and I had 100mins of useable subs in 5 minute sections and one of 15 mins. These all nicely stacked into DSS with no problems along with darks.

The following image has not had much processing done on it other than.

a. Colour balancing, mainly quieten down the red

b. Levels on RGB

c. Some star difractions added because I like them

d. Framing

It is pretty much as it was out of DSS from raws. I spose if it is on the ccd it should be there and not manufactored.

So here it is, I am amazed how well it came out and am chuffed to bits. I spent over 1/2 hour last night just gazing at it.

Want to go over to the Pelican and skull nebula next to try and build a mosiac of the area in this detail.

Skywatcher ED80 Pro II 600mm main imager

Skywatcher ED120 Evostar Pro 900mm guide with QHY5

Canon 350D Baader IR modded

Astronomik CSL LP clip filter

17 x 5min RGB exposures

1 x 15min RGB exposure

5 x 5min Darks.

Full size image can be found here

http://extraview.dnsalias.com/AstroCat/NGC7000 100mins ED80 ISO800 LARGE.jpg

[Deneb]

Thats a huge improvement Catanonia, you must have been chuffed when you saw it.

[Catanonia]

Thats a huge improvement Catanonia, you must have been chuffed when you saw it.

updated the link in the original post for the full picture on my website and here it is. Sorry about the size.

[Aza]

Well done!

You have done very well with that image.

Its all about time. The more you put in the less processing is required

[Deneb]

now just by looking at the nebula, you can tell how huge NGC7000 is. Hopefully from 10pm it looking clear, I will revisit this one, im just toying around deciding what electrical extension reel to buy.

[Catanonia]

now just by looking at the nebula, you can tell how huge NGC7000 is. Hopefully from 10pm it looking clear, I will revisit this one, im just toying around deciding what electrical extension reel to buy.

I started proper imaging this at 11:30 and it was dark enough then.

[roundycat]

an excellent result. Did you use any smoothing/noise reduction during the processing? The stars are very sharp and seem to accentuate a slight over smoothness in the nebula itself.

Dennis

[arad85]

Whoaa.. nice pic

[Catanonia]

Nope, no sharpening or smoothing done, only the processes show in the original post. I did spend about 15 mins getting focusing bank on with the 1st test shots.

[Taff]

What a nice picture of the neb,great colour.Mark

[Psychobilly]

Very Nicely done Cat...

There really is no substitute for exposure..

The star aren't too bad in the corners either... nothing that a reducer flattener shouldnt sort out...

Head for the Pelican Next... IC5070 with NGC7000 will make a nice pair...

Peter...

[Catanonia]

Cheers Pete for the advice on this. Reading your post to confirm my suspicions of moving to ED80 and rotating actually allow me to see the nebula and realise why it was called the American Nebula. Stupid I know, but once it twigged to me, things became alot easier

The Pelican and Skull Nebs will be next to be merged into a super picture hopefully.

[brendant]

That's a really nice result and very nicely processed, its all too easy to overprocess. Well done.

Brendan

[Catanonia]

That's a really nice result and very nicely processed, its all too easy to overprocess. Well done.

Brendan

Thank you and i agree. I was googling some images with about 1/4 of the exposure rate and it was soo easy to tell they had been over sharpened and the reds banged through the roof to make them look unnatural. All I did was balance out the red with the rest if tghe RGB and this was the result. There is actually red clouds in the gulf region and most images you see blacken this out.

[Tim]

That's better, nicely done.

Are you using photoshop? If so, take the pic, make a new layer out of it, and set the blend mode to 'soft light', and the opacity of the layer to around 40%. See if you like the effect. It will enhance the colour and contrast a little.

If you have noels tools (did you use that for the spikes?) then the local contrast enhance action will help to define the nebulous regions a little more too.

As Peter says, there is nothing like lots of exposure to get a nice image. Well done.

[Catanonia]

Thanks TJ, done those changes and the softlight layer approach is nice. Never thought of doing that

What do you think ?

[Tim]

With these astro pics, a lot of what you do in processing is just to make it aesthetically pleasing, they do the same with the hubble pics.

What pleases one, wont necessarily please another. I used to use fake diffraction spikes on nearly every image, simply because I liked the effect. But then I got an OTA with a secondary and spider and got real spikes. I found them to be a world apart from the fake ones, and havent used them since, simply because when you put the two together, its like vinyl and real leather. If you really like the spikes, try making a crosshair out of fine (2mm) wire or aluminium rods. They have to be exactly square. I think in some instances, the spikes add real vibrancy and dynamism to a picture, but sometimes they detract and hide details. Having a removable crosshair gives you the option if you want them for a particular shot.

I prefer the edit to the image, the boost in contrast, although losing some of the fluffier fainter nebulosity, has given extra definition and highlight to the clouds. But i'm sure others will prefer the original. It's all a matter of taste and opinion at the end of the day, and nobody can be "wrong".

Again, it's a very nice picture, one to keep in the collection.

[Catanonia]

22:25 and all position, aligned, guiding and focused to get the Pelican and skull head section with about 20% overlap

Hopefully next few hours will be ok for skies, would love to get this section in.

[michigander]

Makes me homesick!

Dana

[moocher]

That is EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!

Alan:)

[PH-R]

Fantastic image, well done! , you must be really happy.

Regards,

Paul

[adamsp123]

very nice you should be proud

[minimalist]

Very nicely done, pin sharp stars and great color. I do prefer the first one, I'm unteaching myself to boost the red channel too much. Like Tim says though, it is all just a matter of taste.

Daniel

[Catanonia]

Cheers guys, failed the other night to add the pelican to it dewing and now my mount is out of action with a broken synscan controller (the LCD has broken and will not display characters)

Hopefully will add to it soon when I get my scopes up and running again.

Cat

[rich_t]

Wonderful imaging Catanonia. The framing, focus and tracking look perfect. Hope you get the mount fixed soon.

Cheers,

Rich.