TheSkySearchers

Image Data - 05/28/22, 05/29/22 and 6/24/22

20 Dark, 20 flat, 20 dark flat, 20 bias

05-28 - 42 300 1600 L-eNhance
05-29 - 21 300 1600 l-eNhance
06-24 - 36 300 1600 L-eNhance

Equipment Data

AZ-EQ5, WO Z73, EOS 6D, WO 32mm Guide, ASI120 mini

Software Data

DeepSkyStacker · ProDigital Software AstroFlat Pro · Icanus Ltd. APT · Open PHD Guiding PHD2 · ProDigital Software Star Spikes Pro- Adobe Photoshop · StarNet

Last project I was working on in April and May, capturing a nebula with the L-eNhance with no moon in the sky. at ISO 1600. I tried going out in June, but the atmosphere wasn't cooperating with the quality that I wanted to get, and the Sky Gods were no long cooperating when work was the next two. Total integration time is 8.25 hours.



The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico.

On October 24, 1786, William Herschel observing from Slough, England, noted a “faint milky nebulosity scattered over this space, in some places pretty bright.” The most prominent region was catalogued by his son John Herschel on August 21, 1829. It was listed in the New General Catalogue as NGC 7000, where it is described as a "faint, most extremely large, diffuse nebulosity.”

As always, all comments welcome and thanks for looking,

What you see is what you get,
Chris

Very nice work Chris. We've had a horrible late summer here out west too with uncooperative weather. It's either been clear and calm with a full moon or cloudy and windy with a new moon since May.

I like it!

Well done Chris!
I've been struggling myself a bit with the weather and such.
You've managed the details and stars nicely. I think the background is a touch dark, which may be suppressing some finer detail.

Larry

That is a really nice image Chris!

I like the nice details and great coloration.

Very nice Chris!

Very nice image, Chris. The 8 + hours does a good job of taming the noise. I agree with Larry that some of the extended nebulosity could be teased out without damaging the image.

Bob

bobharmony wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:39 am I agree with Larry that some of the extended nebulosity could be teased out without damaging the image.

Larry 1969 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 18, 2022 10:25 pm I think the background is a touch dark, which may be suppressing some finer detail.

If there is, it's beyond my skillset to extract at this point in time.

Hit the link North America Nebula Slide Show and you'll can scroll through the original and two revision trying to get more out of it. The second one, maybe, but I still think the first on is the best. Perhaps with PI, that will come eventually.

yeah, I looked at the slide show. Helpful.

I think your image is a wonderful variation on the usual theme for this huge nebula. I kind of like the way you contrasted the lights and shadows.

BABO

chris_g wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:40 am
If there is, it's beyond my skillset to extract at this point in time.

Hit the link North America Nebula Slide Show and you'll can scroll through the original and two revision trying to get more out of it. The second one, maybe, but I still think the first on is the best. Perhaps with PI, that will come eventually.

The slideshow does hint at the possibilities. I noted PS CC in your signature - the way I use there is a Curves adjustment (actually a series of minor Curves adjustments. I downloaded a copy of the JPEG from the first post and applied a couple of curves adjustment to it and took a pre and post screen shot. I can show you the result if you wish.

Bob

bobharmony wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:41 pm

chris_g wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:40 am
If there is, it's beyond my skillset to extract at this point in time.

Hit the link North America Nebula Slide Show and you'll can scroll through the original and two revision trying to get more out of it. The second one, maybe, but I still think the first on is the best. Perhaps with PI, that will come eventually.

The slideshow does hint at the possibilities. I noted PS CC in your signature - the way I use there is a Curves adjustment (actually a series of minor Curves adjustments. I downloaded a copy of the JPEG from the first post and applied a couple of curves adjustment to it and took a pre and post screen shot. I can show you the result if you wish.

Bob

Hi Bob,

I was actually thinking along those lines this morning of making multiple smaller curve adjustments, I usually start out with a big one and smooth out the curve with one or two smaller ones. Technique from Astrobackyard.com. I would love to see what you did with it. I can make the original stack available if you want to see what you can do with it.

Chris

Wonderful! Well done, Chris!

Nice work the contrast is good, processing is a difficult process to learn... We are all somewhere on the curve. I often slide up and down it, altough not for fun

I just added a third edit, more curves, smaller to the nebula. Brought a lot more detail by the Swan...While there is more detail, it's a little rougher in the appearance. I have one more edit in that I will put up later today, need to tweak the stars background...

North America Nebula Edits Slide Show

BABOafrica wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:05 am yeah, I looked at the slide show. Helpful.

I think your image is a wonderful variation on the usual theme for this huge nebula. I kind of like the way you contrasted the lights and shadows.

BABO

Thank you, that area is a whole lot of red! I know there's more color to it, but it would take NB filters in to really get it out. I also have other reasons for liking just the various shades of red.

chris_g wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:21 pm

Hi Bob,

I was actually thinking along those lines this morning of making multiple smaller curve adjustments, I usually start out with a big one and smooth out the curve with one or two smaller ones. Technique from Astrobackyard.com. I would love to see what you did with it. I can make the original stack available if you want to see what you can do with it.

Chris

Here is a look at the pre- and post- curves images in PS. I would normally try pulling the background down a bit and lift the lower end of the "hump" to pull up the low level stuff, but because I was working with a stretched jpeg I figured there wouldn't be as much benefit to doing so. Interesting, I learned this technique from Astrobackyard a few years ago.

In any case:

Pre-curves:
Post-curves:


I would be happy to take a run at the original stack if you upload it somewhere. It might even help me improve the NAN mosaic I did a couple of months ago!

Bob

Messes with the background, it's not smooth.

I'm still deciding between 1 and 4,

Every change I make beyond that to it to bring out more of the dimmer sections blows out the heartland and messes with the smoothness of the muddy red background areas. The darker actually brings out more contrasts when you zoom into some of the more interesting areas.

As always, thanks for looking for looking folks, and I appreciate the input.

Clear Skies,
Chris

Too much detail in the outer muddy areas is lost by brightening it. And those same areas also start to get blotchy. You can select the link and switch between the two, you'll see why I'm picking the "dimmer" one, it has more details...

Thanks everyone for looking and all those that offered their input, it is much appreciated. Doing the additional edits helped to improve my skillset with Adobe PS.

My North America Final Two Choices and the winner is - Original!

Clear Skies,
Chris

Quick Update,

Wasn't really happy with the star field...

well done, thx .