M8 Lagoon - Bortle 8 Sydney

[Startrek (Martin)]

Imaged M8 last night in Sydney ( Bortle 8 skies )
Could only push 90sec subs as histogram was just over 1/3 and bleached out ( it obviously improved as the object moved up in altitude
Managed 1.5 hrs without dithering as my guiding has been ordinary lately. Guiding was running around 1.20 to 1.40 arc sec error which is ok for my mount and payload
Unfortunately without dithering the image was full of noise so tried my best to clean it up in Startools. Also short subs limits your detailed data so this image is low on exposing nebulosity
6” f6 newt and HEQ5 mount
Canon 600D unmodded with Baader coma corrector
No filters
PHD2
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Startools

Thanks for looking

[spiezzy]

Hi Martin that is a very good image from bortle 8 conditions well done and very nice processing too:thumbs:
cheers Pete

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

That 6 is purring! Nice shot well framed awesome star spikes and colour. Very good processing to boot.
Anth

[assbutt94]

A very nice image, well done!
I think the black point has been set a little to far though and the "background" is a bit to dark but that's just my personal taste really.
It looks like you were able to get some very nice detail around the "core" of the nebula including the dust lanes, and the colour is great!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks All
Dithering would have cleaned up the noise a lot better but my HEQ5 mount doesn’t agree with dithering all that well, it takes to long to recover , if at all
I might try to increase the Dither settle to 0.45 or 0.50 and see if that helps
My EQ6-R mount down the coast recovers so much quicker , I can Dither all night and it just hangs in there
I tried to reduce the red pixel haze in the background using Less More in the Life module of Startools, it darkens your interstellar background and accentuates the object which I like
Cheers

[Chapstick]

That's a really nice image. Well done mate.

[traveller (Bo)]

A fine image Martin.
A modded DSLR together with a LP filter (I recommend atronomik cls ccd) will allow you to take 150-180 sec subs on an F6 system and your results will be spectacular.
Cheers
Bo

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks for the nice comment Jared

Bo
Thanks for the advice
I image with the same camera in Sydney ( Bortle 8 ) and at my weekender south coast NSW ( Bortle 3 )

In Bortle 3 the Canon 600D is excellent and exposes enough Ha to my satisfaction, so no need for a modification ( see my M8 from the weekender )
I have an Astronomik CLS filter for my camera and find it difficult to post process my images, so I choose to do without and squeeze as much out of my subs and processing as possible


Cheers

[ChrisV (Chris)]

Lovely colour and clarity. Well shot and processed!