M101 - 2021 version

[starfield]

I had a few clear nights last week and took another stab at M101. I was hoping to get more time on target, but it now looks like May gray (the local marine layer) has returned to Southern California. Typically the only thing that seems to pull the clouds away is a full moon . Maybe I'll grab some HA if that happens.

Here's what I ended up with. 30 frames Lum, 15 frame each RGB. All at 180 sec at 121 gain. I did end up with a nasty gradient that I couldn't calibrate out, but I was able to tamp it back and crop the worst of it out.

[MariusD69]

Awesome! Very well done!

[messier 111]

beautiful take , thx .

[bobharmony]

A very nice process on what has been a challenging object. Well done!

M101 has been my main target this Spring, getting over 8 hours on the target. The gradients in the area are interesting. @j.gardavsky suggests that some of the uneven background actually exists. You can see his comments in my latest processing thread on it. I'd be curious to see if your background unevenness matches up with what I got in that thread with a lighter hand on darkening it. Maybe we are finding something that is real! Here is a link to the topic.

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=17682

Bob

[starfield]

A very nice process on what has been a challenging object. Well done!

M101 has been my main target this Spring, getting over 8 hours on the target. The gradients in the area are interesting. @j.gardavsky suggests that some of the uneven background actually exists. You can see his comments in my latest processing thread on it. I'd be curious to see if your background unevenness matches up with what I got in that thread with a lighter hand on darkening it. Maybe we are finding something that is real! Here is a link to the topic.

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=17682

Bob

Thanks, Bob. Boy do I wish the gradient is real. Regrettably, it seems to follow me around from shot to shot. It's a real headscratcher. It shows as a bright "W" shaped band on my Lum. What's curious is it matches the same gradient I see on my HA flats but doesn't show up on my Lum flats. In Narrowband I've had no problem callibrating it out, but when shooting LRGB, the Lum Flat is not picking up enough of it to correct it out. Still got work to do to get this new camera dialed in...