M20 reprocess

[bobharmony]

I shot this data in July 2018 and felt the urge to reprocess after seeing what I have been able to get out of my latest data with new versions of StarTools and DSS. M20 is in a terrible spot for me where I have about a 40 minute window between trees and above a streetlight. This is 8 180 second subs stacked with darks, flats, and bias frames, and processed with ST 1.6.382.

Here is my previous attempt for comparison purposes.

Bob

[UlteriorModem]

Nice job, not only did you bring up the luminance of the target, you also darkened the background. I know these two tasks are hardly mutually exclusive

[Don Quixote]

Wow ! Bob...
That new process is quite different.
You have pulled a lot more out of this data...lost the red/pink hue...colors lookin good now...nice contrasts. Star colors are nice!
Fantastic job.
Thank you.

[Jockinireland]

That's a super reprocessing. And amazing for such a short integration.

I'd be interested to hear what 1.6 allowed you to do over the previous process to get such a difference

Rgds

David

[Juno16]

Really nice reprocess Bob.

The new process has really nice star colors. The blues are much more pronounced.

Really cool what the data holds! Nice work!

Did you bin?

[Hankmeister3]

Wow, big difference. Excellent processing to pull out that latent data, Bob.

[Gordon]

Congratulations Bob on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!

app.php/article/4-12-2020-tss-astrophot ... of-the-day

[Don Quixote]

Congrats on the APOD selection, Bob.

[Makuser]

Hi Bob. I like the new reprocess of your M20 (Trifid Nebular). More contrast and the bi-color nebulosity is much more vibrant. Thanks for putting this up on here for us to enjoy Bob, and I hope that you had a great Easter.

[Ylem]

Nice
A big difference

[bobharmony]

That's a super reprocessing. And amazing for such a short integration.

I'd be interested to hear what 1.6 allowed you to do over the previous process to get such a difference

Rgds

David

David

The tools that have proved most useful in recent StarTools releases are part of the AutoDev module. The ability to select a Region of Interest helps tame the background while allowing specific control over just how much of the faint detail of the object itself gets brought out. The Ignore Fine Detail slider is also useful in quieting some of the gross noise, which this image had a lot of given the short integration time. These tools may have been available in the 1.5 release, but I have found over the years that as Ivo releases new alphas and betas, there is even better function and capability in them.

I also used the checkbox in DSS that turns off all White Balancing. This is something Ivo asked for specifically for StarTools and it seems to give me great color without a lot of fuss. For this one I turned up the saturation just a bit above the default of 200%.

Really nice reprocess Bob.

The new process has really nice star colors. The blues are much more pronounced.

Really cool what the data holds! Nice work!

Did you bin?

Thanks, Jim. Yes, I binned this one to 71%. I had an initial run at it without binning, but the result was too noisy for my taste so I went back for another try. Even this small amount of binning reduced the processing time considerably.

Congratulations Bob on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!

app.php/article/4-12-2020-tss-astrophot ... of-the-day

Thanks, Gordon. It's nice to get another one of these under my belt

Bob

[Juno16]

Thanks, Jim. Yes, I binned this one to 71%. I had an initial run at it without binning, but the result was too noisy for my taste so I went back for another try. Even this small amount of binning reduced the processing time considerably.

Bob

Congratulations on the apod Bob. Well deserved!

So far, with limited experimentation, 71% seems to be the sweet spot between quality details and processing time. That is, of course, when less the image responds well to less binning. Glad that you shared that tip awhile back!

[bobharmony]

Nice job, not only did you bring up the luminance of the target, you also darkened the background. I know these two tasks are hardly mutually exclusive

Thanks, Tom. The latest version of StarTools has been a game-changer for me. Ivo has really baked some good stuff in there, and I am starting to figure out how to do it some justice, I think.

Bob

[Graeme1858]

I shot this data in July 2018 and felt the urge to reprocess after seeing what I have been able to get out of my latest data with new versions of StarTools and DSS.

Hello Bob

Really nice colours in the re-processed version.

Congratulations on the APOD.

Regards

Graeme

[ic_1101]

Excellent repro Bob! Congrats on the TSS APOD, well deserved!

[Astrovetteman]

Hey Bob, that's a GREAT reprocess!! Congrats on the APOD! This is always a tough one for me....lots of LP and trees in my southern sky, so my imaging time is really short......maybe it's time to get the chainsaw out!!
Great Job!!
Tom

[bobharmony]

Hey Bob, that's a GREAT reprocess!! Congrats on the APOD! This is always a tough one for me....lots of LP and trees in my southern sky, so my imaging time is really short......maybe it's time to get the chainsaw out!!
Great Job!!
Tom

Thanks, Tom. Ditto on the tough southern sky here. The view has gotten better in the past year as a couple of the old Norway Maples in my neighbors and my front yards have had to come down. I'll have to see about adding some integration time this year!

Bob