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M81 and M82 from SGL6

Darth Takahashi

By Darth Takahashi
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Darth Takahashi

Darth Takahashi

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The first night of SGL6 was plagued with patchy clouds with a few clear openings from time to time, so Thursday night I only managed to get 30mins of imaging. Party my own fault since I got chatting and drinking and forgot to get back in time to do a meridian flip...

Friday night was much better and I managed to get a solid 4-1/2 hours of imaging in because it finally clouded over at around 3 in the morning.

Saturday also started well and I grabbed 2 hours of H Alpha before retiring to my bed... I'm afraid that tiredness and drink got the better of me but at least I did remember to do the meridian flip after the first 1 hour of subs were in the bag.

This image has been a real mental challenge for me, since I have never dedicated so much time to just one target. No doubt there is someone out there with a million hour of data but here you can find my 5+ hours of data on M81 and M82. I lost only a few subs to the weather.

Processing wise this has been the biggest challenge of all; since playing around with the incoming data in the tent proved not to give the results I was expecting. I finally bottom the problem to MaxIm DL5 not aligning and stacking the RED channel correctly...Don't know why since GREEN and BLUE weren't a problem. Anyway the issue was solved with Pix-insight.

I have used MaxIm for capture, calibration and most of the stacking. Pix-insight has played a supporting role only, while PhotoShop did everything else...

I hope you like it, no doubt I'll be playing around with it for the next couple of days!

post-15658-133877557045_thumb.jpg

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barkis

barkis

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That's an excellent result Neil. Quite a beautiful pair these two galaxies, and nicely framed.

Pleasure meeting you too, I hope you enjoyed the Star Party enough to return next time, although your trip was longer than mine, I was shattered driving home.:icon_eek:

Ron.

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MickD

MickD

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Hi Neil,

That’s a big improvement on the version I saw at SGL – but then it was quite difficult processing images, sat on a camping table in Squids tent with the sun dazzling the Laptop screen.

Well worth the time spent to capture the data

Mick

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Darth Takahashi

Darth Takahashi

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Thanks guys for all the kind comments, it certainly helps me feel the 5+ hours are worth while. :icon_eek:

Here is another version which I have pushed harder from a saturation point of view using the LAB technique discussed by MartinB during SGL6. I hope I haven't gone too far?

I have also now used Pix-insights noise reduction process to smooth out the background noise while protection the detail in the galaxies etc... My aim here is too push more blue into the arms of M81 while increasing the red's in M82.

Once again thank you for your comment, of course I appreciate your feedback on which you prefer / think is better as it is always difficult to know how are to push these images...

post-15658-133877557235_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
SlipperySquid

SlipperySquid

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Hiya mate,

I knew you could do it :) As Mick has previously said, sitting in a bright tent is not always the best place for processing and after about 5 hours I thought we where going to have to put you on suicide watch :(

Love the detail and love the Ha burst from M82 well worth the effort! upwards and onwards Neil and lets sort out our next adventure!

Doe's this mean that you now have a work flow routine for this CCD? or do you have to change it a lot for different targets?

Take care mate,

Matt.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Darth Takahashi

Darth Takahashi

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The magic is sponsored by "Harrysastroshed"; checkout his videos on PI and especially the HDR-Wavelet sharpening, simply brilliant. You do need to use a couple of masks to get the final result but it worth the effort.

Just bang that into google and it will take you straight there, entertaining and informative. The best money I have spent so far on software.

I'm going to have a go a processing this one again since it has gone too RED because of the way I brought in the H Alpha data... Found a better routine for that.

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