M81 and IFN

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by niharika

Oh God....n how did you make it look soo pretty!!! Beautiful image Rick. Very well done.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Good one Rick. Nice and Deep and really well processed.

Originally Posted by Spookyer

Really jumps out of the background that one!

Thanks, Raki, Greg & Brett!

[Decimus (Richard)]

Move over Hubble, I say! A magnificent image of M81, Rick! Congrats!

Cheers,
Richard

[RickS (Rick)]

Thanks, Richard

[IanP]

magnificent, magnificent, magnificent ....

[alpal]

Originally Posted by RickS

Thanks, Allan. Brisbane hasn't been much better so I really value the remote data!

Hi Rick,
I start to wonder sometimes why I spent so much money
on something that I can very seldom use.
I have often thought about selling my equipment due to the awful weather & lack of time to use it.
I am lucky to get one picture every 3 or 4 months.
In fact -I've only managed 2 pictures in the last year -
maybe my money would have been better spent on remote robotic telescope hire?
You may have found the solution.

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Not a bad M81 that.......for a southerner

Seriously, looks great Rick, particularly the Galactic Cirrus

I would display it with the galaxy horizontal though

Mike

[ozstronomer (Geoff)]

Beautiful image Rick, well done with the processing

Cheers Geoff

[PRejto (Peter)]

Bravo!! Fantastic. Love the cirrus.

Makes me even more excited to finally have a plan to move my TEC180 to a dark site. Pity it won't be at a high elevation, but anything is better than Sydney!

Peter

[cazza132 (Troy Casswell)]

Whah! That is deep dude! Probably faint details never imaged before. I know there is some HDR work there around the core, but thinking a lift in the mid tones for the periphery of the core might serve well (while pulling black clipping slightly). On the other hand, you may loose some punch doing that (very subjective). Stunning details around that area though. The cool thing is that you have shown the zones of recent star development (blue giants in the outer arms) and older yellow stars closer to the core. Amazing work!!!

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by IanP

magnificent, magnificent, magnificent ....

Thanks, Ian.

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Rick,
I start to wonder sometimes why I spent so much money
on something that I can very seldom use.
I have often thought about selling my equipment due to the awful weather & lack of time to use it.
I am lucky to get one picture every 3 or 4 months.
In fact -I've only managed 2 pictures in the last year -
maybe my money would have been better spent on remote robotic telescope hire?
You may have found the solution.

I love to get out under the stars with a scope but it happens so rarely these days that good weather and new moon coincides with free time

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Not a bad M81 that.......for a southerner

Seriously, looks great Rick, particularly the Galactic Cirrus

I would display it with the galaxy horizontal though

Thanks, your Mikeness I probably would have gone horizontal too if I had been involved in the planning. Looks like I'll be able to decide on the framing of the next target for that scope.

Originally Posted by ozstronomer

Beautiful image Rick, well done with the processing

Thanks, Geoff!

Originally Posted by PRejto

Bravo!! Fantastic. Love the cirrus.

Makes me even more excited to finally have a plan to move my TEC180 to a dark site. Pity it won't be at a high elevation, but anything is better than Sydney!

Thanks, Peter. The TEC180 should be killer under dark skies.

Originally Posted by cazza132

Whah! That is deep dude! Probably faint details never imaged before. I know there is some HDR work there around the core, but thinking a lift in the mid tones for the periphery of the core might serve well (while pulling black clipping slightly). On the other hand, you may loose some punch doing that (very subjective). Stunning details around that area though. The cool thing is that you have shown the zones of recent star development (blue giants in the outer arms) and older yellow stars closer to the core. Amazing work!!!

Thanks, Troy. I did try a few things to improve the balance but couldn't come up with anything I liked better. Might be a repro in future...

[DJT (David)]

Crickey..a stunning image, the detail is quite something.

Well done.

[markas (Mark)]

Rick, that is superb!

I'd love to know if you used any special processing to bring out the IFN, or was it all exposure time?

Whatever, it's amazing.

Mark

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by DJT

Crickey..a stunning image, the detail is quite something.

Well done.

Thanks, David.

Originally Posted by markas

Rick, that is superb!

I'd love to know if you used any special processing to bring out the IFN, or was it all exposure time?

Whatever, it's amazing.

Thanks, Mark. It's mostly down to the amount and quality of the luminance but I did try to squeeze as much out of it as possible during processing (included synthetic lum derived from the colour data, stretched it to within an inch of its life, etc.)

[alpal]

Originally Posted by RickS

I love to get out under the stars with a scope but it happens so rarely these days that good weather and new moon coincides with free time

Hi Rick,
It's a wonderful feeling to see raw data coming straight off the camera
that already forms a great picture.
I've seen that with 20 minute subframes in Ha while outside with the laptop.

cheers
Allan

[el_draco (Rom)]

I just keep coming back to this and going "ooh ahhh" Spectacular shot

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Lots of amazing detail there Rick!
However it's compositionally awkward imo, echoing Mike's comments maybe a 90 degree rotation and crop to the rule of thirds could help?
Galactic cirrus huh? As Spock would say - Fascinating....

[multiweb (Marc)]

Great stuff Rick. Pretty deep.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by el_draco

I just keep coming back to this and going "ooh ahhh" Spectacular shot

Ta, Rom!

Originally Posted by Andy01

Lots of amazing detail there Rick!
However it's compositionally awkward imo, echoing Mike's comments maybe a 90 degree rotation and crop to the rule of thirds could help?
Galactic cirrus huh? As Spock would say - Fascinating....

Thanks, Andy. Yes,I would have cropped differently but I didn't want to lose too much of the fluffy stuff. I have a much wider FOV from another scope. Maybe I can do a nice composition with 3 sets of data

Originally Posted by multiweb

Great stuff Rick. Pretty deep.

Thanks, Marc.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Lovely image, exceptional processing. I particularly like the look of dusty areas and starfields around the galaxy

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Lovely image, exceptional processing. I particularly like the look of dusty areas and starfields around the galaxy

Thanks, Suavi!