Re-processed Image: M13 The Great Cluster In Hercules

[Juno16]

Like many of us who image the night sky, I too have had nothing but clouds and for for 2023.

It does, however, give us a chance to hone our skills at processing.
I have been thinking about revisiting this data for awhile and finally got a chance yesterday.

Imaged in May of 2021, this is one of the few clusters that I have imaged.
Stars are so beautiful!

This was a really quick process. I really need to image it again as the data is plagued by star eccentricity issues.
Like many (all) of the images that I captured with my old mount, star shape was an issue.
BlurXTerminator was a godsend for helping correct star shapes in this image. Thanks Russell!

Reprocessed from the original Pixinsight masterlight (not re-preprocessed).

ASI533 MC-Pro with 60 second exposures at -10C
Celestron AVX mount
About 4.5 hours total integration.

Just to note, there is a small galaxy just WSW of M13 that is over a half billion light year’s distant (PGC 2085077).

Thanks for looking and comments are very welcome!

[Gmetric]

Cracking repro and a magnificent globular cluster. You have a few little fuzzies lurking around in the distance. Nicely done, Jim

[Juno16]

Cracking repro and a magnificent globular cluster. You have a few little fuzzies lurking around in the distance. Nicely done, Jim

Thanks buddy!
It sure is an amazing cluster. It was nice to look at it again.
Yes, PGC 2085077 at 536Mly boggles my mind!

[bobharmony]

Great job bringing out the detail in the core - nice job, Jim!

Bob

[Mac]

Awesome capture and processing Jim. I have the same equipment and can't come close to this!

[Makuser]

Hello Jim. A sparkling M13 globular cluster re-processed image from you. Excellent contrast and the stars look like diamonds on black velvet. Thanks for sharing this redo with us on here Jim and you just got to love those Globular Clusters.

[messier 111]

very well done, I see the prop very well, thx.

[Jockinireland]

I'm not a huge fan of cluster images but thats really nice Jim. I like Little NGC6207 down at lower left.

[MariusD69]

Wonderful! Very well done, Jim!!

[Juno16]

Great job bringing out the detail in the core - nice job, Jim!

Bob

Thanks Bob!

Awesome capture and processing Jim. I have the same equipment and can't come close to this!

Thank you so much Steve!
Your images are amazing!

Hello Jim. A sparkling M13 globular cluster re-processed image from you. Excellent contrast and the stars look like diamonds on black velvet. Thanks for sharing this redo with us on here Jim and you just got to love those Globular Clusters.

Hi Marshall,
Wish that I could get new data (on anything), but with poor skies so far in 2023, I have to practice, practice, practice!
The tools get better, I always learn new things, and it is lots of fun.
Thank you for your very kind words!

very well done, I see the prop very well, thx.

I really appreciate it Jean-Yves!

I'm not a huge fan of cluster images but thats really nice Jim. I like Little NGC6207 down at lower left.

Hi David,

Been a very lean year so far for clear skies. I had 3 hours in January.

This is the only time I’ve imaged a globular cluster as the main attraction.
Two main learnings with this repro are:
1) SPCC does a fantastic job with color calibration with my old IDAS LPS D-1 filter. I stopped using it awhile ago in favor of a uv/ir cut so that I would not have to do as much color correction in post. SPCC nails it. The stars in this image aren’t perfect by any means, but all that I did with the color was a bump in saturation in the linear phase.
2) I knew BXT tightened up the stars well, but the stars in this image were so eccentric, I could not run DynamicPSF to measure star FWHM (for BXT). BXT using the “auto PSF” did a great job at making the stars much more palatable.

Yes, NGC6207 looks cool. PGC 2085077 (The tiny galaxy at the same angle as NGC6207, but closer to M13) blows me away thinking that the photons captured left the galaxy over a half-billion years ago!

Sorry to ramble so much! Thank you David!

[Bigzmey]

Excellent, well done Jim!

[JayTee]

Jim, that's an exceptional image. My only critique would be that the cluster itself needs more yellow, which I've found to be very difficult to do. After all, most of those are very old stars. FWIW!

Superbly done,

[Juno16]

Excellent, well done Jim!

Thank you ver much Bigz!

[Juno16]

Jim, that's an exceptional image. My only critique would be that the cluster itself needs more yellow, which I've found to be very difficult. After all, most of those are very old stars. FWIW!

Superbly done,

Hi JT,

I agree 100% that the stars should show more yellow. Point well made!

Here’s my story.
I just wanted to play with the old 2021 dataset with some of the new PI tools.
The dataset was imaged with my old mount and had significant star eccentricity issues.
The tools worked pretty well and as far as color, I only used a bit of color saturation.
I applied a bit of sharpening and it just popped! So, I just stopped there and went with it!

I dang sure appreciate your constructive remarks!
Spot on feedback like yours helps me to improve!
I hope to collect fresh data on this target this year and will work with the color balance more carefully.

I also appreciate your nice comments too sir!

Thanks for the help my friend!

[Greenman]

Very nice repro, I think a bit more curves saturation could pull out the yellow a bit. But I totally understand the risk of over processing. Super cluster. 2023 has been a bit of a disappontment and oddly really hitting the combo of clear skies in combo with full moons. It's just as well it we are patient beings.

[Juno16]

Very nice repro, I think a bit more curves saturation could pull out the yellow a bit. But I totally understand the risk of over processing. Super cluster. 2023 has been a bit of a disappontment and oddly really hitting the combo of clear skies in combo with full moons. It's just as well it we are patient beings.

I totally get you about using curves.
As you might’ve read, all I did was a slight saturation boost in the linear phase. No curves used in post.

I plan to reimage this target and spend more time on processing. This dataset was captured with my old mount and definitely has some trackingguiding issues.
Just a fun new crack at the data and I like it, but may just dip back into it later and play with Curves.


Same skies as you so far in 2023! I fid have 3 hours in January to finish M78, but that’s it.

Thanks for you nice comment Tony and suggestions!

[ic_1101]

Excellent reprocess Jim! Nice detail and colors in the glob.
Cheers