Experimental NGC 6744

[Slawomir]

Hi all,

In the past few weeks I have been very slowly collecting bits of Lum data from our backyard in Paddington in Brisbane. Light pollution is rather intense, with about 2 photons per second per pixel being registered in a featureless background by the camera with a Lum filter.

Clearly not a breathtaking image, in particular with just over 8 hours of data, but I thought of sharing anyway, if only as a warning of what happens when one tries broadband imaging with a small refractor in a city :lol:

http://www.astrobin.com/full/305157/F/

Full res: http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/0c6b5e5a177c1e780ef16893250ece1c.16 536x16536_q100_watermark_watermark_ opacity-15_watermark_position-6_watermark_size-S_watermark_text-Copyright%20Slawomir%20Lipinski.jpg

It looks like I wont be able to add colour to this experimental image this year.

Thank you for looking
Suavi

[Placidus]

A good experiment and an excellent result for the location. Shows what can be done. Sharp and nicely processed.

[Atmos]

How you capture anything in Lum is a surprise from your location haha

There is nice detail in the galaxy :)

[Slawomir]

Thank you Mike, Trish and Colin for your encouragement.

Last night I started collecting Luminance data for another target higher up in the sky, and after adjusting length of subs, the initial just under 3hrs of data looks quite promising: http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/1d2c69646833e92c36fa13d6110ff45b.16 536x16536_q100_watermark.jpg

[PRejto]

I think that is quite good! Have you considered using an Astronomik CLS filter as a luminance filter? It does a pretty amazing job from my former light polluted sight in Sydney. You really could add colour to this! I managed (with a lot of processing and gradient removal) and so does Peter Ward....I think double to triple the usual amount of colour data helps in the battle.

Peter

[Paul Haese]

That is actually not a bad image. I was working on this very object a few months back with the RC until I had to abandon the project. It is a very faint object with lots of interesting dust lanes. I'll have another go at it next year but your suburban image compares pretty well.

[gregbradley]

Well I am surprised. I would not think that you would get anything decent from a light polluted area of such a faint galaxy. You've done exceptionally well here.

Greg.

[atalas]

Great work from your location Suavi :thumbsup: It's a very tough low surface bright galaxy and needs another 8 hrs to smooth out the low signal area but, I'm sure you know that anyway.

Good luck with the colour....It's going to be real tough from your location mate.

[Slawomir]

Thank you for the hints with CLS and colour data Peter. Unfortunately I have rather severely obstructed views on the sky so adding colour will need to wait for another season. Grus Quartet is high up in the sky though, so I have adjusted length of exposure and started collecting new data - so far it looks quite promising!



Thank you Paul. This image started out as a star field for removing the reminder of tilt from my imaging train, but data looked not too bad so I decided to stick with it for a while.



Thank you Greg for your very kind feedback. I really need to move further out from the city...


Thank you Louie. I already started another image and shortening Lum subs made a big difference in terms of controlling background noise. With 3 minutes I am easily sky limited and noise in each sub is much lower than with 5-minute subs.

[RickS]

That's a better result than I would have expected, Suavi. Look forward to your colour version of the Grus Quartet.

[rustigsmed]

Not bad Suavi I like the full frame - you've cropped pretty heavily!