M81 M82 composite

[MikeD]

This image has been a right pain to do, the high rez m81 and M82 images were time consuming but went well.

It's been the starfield shot that has been a pig.

I had to bin 4 hrs of L data because of poor calibration data and start again and the red and green took two attempts to get usable data.

So though I am still not very happy with the result, here it is.

M81 was:

69 x L @ 5 min's

13 x G @ 5 min's

13 x B @ 5 min's

20 x R @ 5 min's

11 x Ha @ 5 min's

through my 10" newt and HX916

And M82 was:

30 x L @ 5 min's

10 x G @ 5 min's

10 x B @ 5 min's

10 x R @ 5 min's

15 x Ha @ 10 mins

through my 10" newt and HX916

Starfield shot taken through my 80ED and HX916

L 49 @ 5 min's

R 12 @ 5 min's

G 11 @ 5 min's

B 10 @ 5 min's

The 80ED data has been resampled @ 200% and the 10" newt data has been added @ 99.7% as masked layers.

I had high hopes for this project but like I said I'm not too pleased with the result for the effort, though I can take comfort in the M81 and M82 as images on their own.

I could keep going until I get better data but it's become a bit of a chore,

so it's time to move on.

the image below is @ 45% and doesn't look too bad.

Heres a link to the warts and all full size image.

Mike.

[Whippy]

Stunning Mike, just stunning . All that hard work has paid off but it must have been painful to dump that 4 hours' worth of data.

Tony..

[jerryaxe]

Hi Yfronto,

Wonderfull image...

Don't hesitate to push colors in PS with Lab mode

I gave it a go and it is quite nice

Tell me what you think

Jerry

[MikeD]

Thanks Tony, and yes it was a big factor in me calling an end to the data colection for this project.

Hi Jerry, too much colour looks unnatural IMO but thanks for the tip.

Mike.

[Beyond_Vision]

Truly spectacular image Mike and well worth all the time and effort put in. The detail is really staggering and the colour very natural too.

Regards

Kevin

[gerard33]

Fantastic

I regret my poor vocabulary

nice²

[daz]

That's a cracking composite Mikey! I like the colours, very smooth indeed, and the detail in both galaxies is just superb!

You should be chuffed!

[beamish]

Fantastic YF !! Just fantastic !

[Paxo]

Fantastic composite image Mike, shame about the lost data though.

Steve..

[MartinB]

Superb work Mike. Don't beat yourself up over that star field, it looks great from here.

[MikeD]

Thanks all,

I had hoped to push the starfield further without noise becoming an issue, which would have enabled me to blend the three images better.

I may go back for fresh starfield data at some point but for now pastures new are calling.

Mike.

[astroman001]

Don't know why your not happy with th eresult. It looks pretty stunning to me. I especially love the M81 image. That could be a subject on it's own.

regards

Peter

[prokyon]

A real stunner! Great work!!!

Regards

Werner

[RobH]

Nice work Mike.

I know just how much work goes into these multi scope mosaics....you do need to move on after a while to get some perspective on them.

It looks great to me, and the lower res starfield looks fine

Cheers

Rob

[Darth Takahashi]

blumming hell, that's an absolutely stunning image...WOW...

What more is there to say, lot's and lot's of time in this one but its worth it.

Neil.

[adamsp123]

A most excellent image Mike, super detail showing.