Captured this Galaxy back in September with my new ZWOASI2600MC camera and due to cloud blanketing the east coast for the next 1 to 2 weeks decided to do some reprocessing and see if I can improve anything in the image
Subs Stacked in DSS with darks only
Processing software Startools V1.6
OSC Linear data set ( image is processed in Luminance until you hit the colour module )
Binned at 50%
Re orientated / cropped the object to lie on a 40 degree plane rather than a 65 degree plane
Experimented with AutoDev to expose the main arms and not blow the core out to much
Created a Star mask and kept it all the way through each module
Contrast to 15%
HDR in the core area
Increased Deconvolution to 4 pixels to form some structure
A bit of Sharpening up to 150
A bit of Life ( Less More ) to reduce the noise grain and increase detail
Fiddled with Colour , Scientific mode
Noise reduction to 5.5 pixels
Final LRGB image
Total time to stack and process approx 2 hours
The reprocess exposed a little more detail but still a little grainy and colour a bit washed.Always good to have another go at it
That looks to be a very well captured and processed image, has a lovely aesthetic feel to it. The colours of the core and spiral arms, the dark dust clouds and diffraction spikes on the brighter stars, I like it .
Thanks everyone
Appreciate it
I guess some time out for everyone on the east of the continent as this monster low is slow moving so no clear nights for at least the next 1 to 2 weeks. A good time to do some housekeeping and maintenance on your telescope, mount , laptop and reprocessing some old data like I did.
Thanks again