M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

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Baskevo
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M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

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Post by Baskevo »


Hello, friends!

Long time no talk! I've been super busy with law school and unfortunately haven't had the time to enjoy my favorite hobby... However, last night I decided to go through some old data, and I am so happy with the results that I wanted to share!

To remind you guys, I live in a Bottle 8 and my conditions are seldom good enough for astrophotography. I switched to narrowband to remove this factor, but the last couple months I was setting up I decided to give galaxies another shot.

I shot M51 about a year and a half ago, but I could not process the images enough to make it something that I would be willing to share... There was too much gradient, so much color noise, and it just did not look like what I often see here on TSS.

However, coming back to it with a fresh mind and having forgotten all of the AP techniques I knew from a year and a half ago, I am pleasantly surprised! I broke one of the cardinal rules -- that you're not supposed to stretch the image too much to clip some of the white data -- forgetting this, I clipped the white data by about 0.05%, and that seemed to do the trick! It made the image so much easier to process... I'm sure I lost some information, but I do not care, I am so happy with how visible this is!

I'm guessing I need to turn up the gain and lower my exposure time, because my histogram appears to be verrrry close to the left, sometimes even crossing over the left side. If you guys have any other suggestions to prevent this, I would love to know for the next time I head out into the field!


Messer 51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)
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m51 by James wainwright, on Flickr

If you guys have any thoughts or suggestions, I am all ears and, as always, very open to criticism! Let me know if you like the image too! :)
-James W.

Telescope: Explore Scientific 80mm FCD100 Triplet APO Refractor
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Cameras: ZWO ASI1600mm Pro (Cooled) | Canon DSLR EOS T7i
Auto-guiding: ZWO ASI120mm-Mini + Astromania 50mm Guidescope

Filters: ZWO 31mm Ha/Oiii/Sii 7nm + LRGB | Orion 2" Skyglow Filter
Accessories: Explore Scientific 2" Field Flattener, ZWO EFW 8 Position
Software: APT, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, CPWI | PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/186194203@N06/18B629
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messier 111 Canada
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Re: M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

#2

Post by messier 111 »


Nice take , thx .
I LOVE REFRACTORS , :Astronomer1: :sprefac:

REFRACTOR , TS-Optics Doublet SD-APO 125 mm f/7.8 . Lunt 80mm MT Ha Doublet Refractor .

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FILTER , Nebustar 2 tele vue . Apm solar wedge . contrast booster 2 inches .

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“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”
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Jean-Yves :flags-canada:
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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Re: M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

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Post by Larry 1969 »


That's not bad at all IMO...
Color balance looks good from here.. Nice image!

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

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Graeme1858 Great Britain
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Re: M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

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Post by Graeme1858 »


Hello James. Good to see you again.

Looks like your newly learnt processing skills are just fine!

Regards

Graeme
______________________________________________
Celestron 9.25 f10 SCT, f6.3FR, CGX mount.
ASI1600MM Pro, ASI294MC Pro, ASI224MC
ZWO EFW, ZWO OAG, ASI220MM Mini.
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Re: M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

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Post by Jockinireland »


nice image. the wide FOV gives it a sense of size and isolation.
Scope: Skywatcher Evostar 80ED (SW 0.85 FR/FF) on a SW NEQ6Pro
Guiding; SW Evoguide 50ED, ASI 120mm mini
Meade 8" LX200 GPS on wedge (Guided with a cheapo 50mm guidescope and a ZWO ASI 120mm mini)
Sharpstar 61EDPH II (with dedicated 0.8 reducer) with wiliam Optics 32mm uniguide
Camera: ASI2600MC pro. QHY 163M with ZWO 7nm NB filters, Canon EOS700D astro mod
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My Astrobin https://www.astrobin.com/users/mackiedlm/
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Re: M51 - Reprocessing Old Data!

#6

Post by Baskevo »


Thank you all! I am happy with it. I sent it in for a print, hopefully that turns out as well as my last one of the Pelican! I'm going back through more old data now. If anyone has any tips for me, I'm always game!
-James W.

Telescope: Explore Scientific 80mm FCD100 Triplet APO Refractor
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Cameras: ZWO ASI1600mm Pro (Cooled) | Canon DSLR EOS T7i
Auto-guiding: ZWO ASI120mm-Mini + Astromania 50mm Guidescope

Filters: ZWO 31mm Ha/Oiii/Sii 7nm + LRGB | Orion 2" Skyglow Filter
Accessories: Explore Scientific 2" Field Flattener, ZWO EFW 8 Position
Software: APT, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, CPWI | PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/186194203@N06/18B629
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