Does this qualify as "mega-data"? :)

[rmuhlack]

Inspired by the heroic efforts of many here on the IIS forums (and particularly Rolf and Mike with their amazing collaborative effort on this target), I present here my first major project exceeding 20 hours. All captured with a humble DSLR and small 130mm f5 newtonian on a HEQ5 mount from my home in Strathalbyn SA (about 55km south-east of Adelaide).

Capture details:
Camera: modded Canon 1000D (Astrodon UVIR filter, no cooling)
Scope: 130mm f5 newtonian reflector
Mount: HEQ5 on the stock tripod
Exposure: 439 x 3min subs @ ISO1600 (just under 22 hours) across 7 nights in early March 2014. Ambient temps ranging from 12-18C
Software: Sequence Generator Pro, Pixinsight 1.8

Processed with the intent to reveal the polar jets and extended Halo of this magnificent galaxy as well as the abundant galactic cirrus throughout this region of our skies.

High resolution here: http://www.astrobin.com/full/82767/B/

What do you think? Has my attempt at "mega-data" been worth the effort? Any advice to improve the processing?

Comments and feedback appreciated

[Paul Haese]

Very nice looking and yes you have mega-ed up.

[rmuhlack]

Thanks Paul. Im enjoying the new location here in Strath (although the skies probably aren't quite as dark as your place at Clayton).

[alpal]

That's a top image - I don't see how it could be improved with more processing.

[Regulus]

Gee Richard, I can't give feedback on the question you've asked and will leave that to the clever people who do this thing regularly.
What I can say is WOW, that's a nice photograph!!

Trevor

[Paul Haese]

Where about in Strath are you Richard? Perhaps some time you can come down on new moon. We have several guys that come down regularly on New moon for imaging if the sky is clear.

[LewisM]

Words are futile.

[Kunama]

Such a great result with such humble equipment, amazing really!

[rmuhlack]

have sent you a PM

[RickS]

Nice stuff, Richard. I think that qualifies as mega-data and a great effort from a DSLR. Great image!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Astroman]

Thats a great image, love the stars and the FOV. Did you get your camera modded or was it bought like it? I am thinking of doing the same or similar to my 1100D. Excellent result.

[rmuhlack]

Thanks. I modded the camera myself, by removing the anti alias and stock UV/IR filter and replacing with an Astrodon luminance filter.

[strongmanmike]

Well Richard it has been 6 years now since my 3 consecutive night 20hr effort under perfect dark skies on this galaxy through a 6" telescope and I remember when I was processing what was then unique looking data, the excitement was palpable...I imagine it was very similar in your case here too, so I feel your emotion :). Having lots of data to work with (particularly if captured under truly dark skies) is indeed a pleasure to work with.

Congratulations of a fine image with modest equipment, I can see the full hockey stick shape but the galactic Cirrus is a bit hard to really make out :question: but one good thing is that you don't look to have simply arbitrarily lassoed the hockey stick shape or used a heavy handed mask and worked on it separately, so it looks natural and to be real scaled data.

So...as many on here will remember I made a reasonable number of reprocessing efforts on my data set and started to annoy some on here with my regular reposts of Centaurus A's :lol:...but in the end the final finished product (4 months later) was worth the many efforts..and the term doing a Sidonio or Sidononioing was coined for reprocessing :rofl: Hey I can take it :P.

So, see if you can reveal the cirrus a bit better, perhaps up the contrast a bit and try processing a version just for the dust lane and (very) carefully blend it back in...

Again great effort and commendable result there :thumbsup:

Mike

[rmuhlack]

Thanks Mike. It has been a bit of a rollacoster last week, as I (in the process of acquiring this image data) have also been testing and refining my automation software (Sequence Generator Pro) - so testing out unsupervised plate solving, auto focus and auto-meridian flips. I lost quite a bit of data due to equipment issues, but very excited to still have cracked the "20 hour" barrier.

Bringing out the galactic cirrus has been interesting. Using your image and Rolf's image as references, I can easily see the galactic cirrus in my data with an extreme stretch. However - i guess due to the fact that my camera is operating at > ambient temps - there is a LOT of noise when I do this. I simply cant reproduce the smooth result that you had with such an extreme stretch, but i guess that is in part due to the difference in capability of the equipment. Given the modest nature of my gear i am very happy with the result, but will continue to refine as you have suggested. I admit that after viewing the image on 4 different screens (two desktop monitors, a laptop and my phone) the "galactic cirrus" is indeed hard to see. Pixinsight does not allow one to selectively lasso a region of the image, which i think preserves the integrity of the data. Nevertheless you've given me something to work towards.

:cheers:

[DJT]

Top image Richard. No improvement tips I could possibly offer. :bowdown:

[gregbradley]

A stunning image Richard. Really nice.

Greg.

[h0ughy]

fantastic effort and result - well done

[multiweb]

Nice one Richard. Very deep field. :thumbsup:

[RB]

A wonderful result Richard !
Proof that great images can be had with modest gear too.

:thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Great result there Richard. Your perseverance has really paid off in an excellent image.
Allan

[atalas]

Great result with a DSLR !

[Shiraz]

That is an excellent image - hero status, when the equipment is considered.

[marco]

As somebody else said Richards, this is a fantastic image far above what I could imagine possible to do with a modes DSLR. I got details that compare or exceed those visible on "normally" long exposures using cooled CCDs :thumbsup:
You must be very satisfied with the result :)

Clear skies
Marco

[prokyon]

Great effort Richard! :thumbsup: It would be the perfect way to capture so many data for every image. But we all don't live in Andes mountains.
No noise, faint details, great colors. My answer, YES, it was it worth! :)

[Harel_Boren]

Excellent image, and the effort is indeed worthwhile!
Cheers,
Harel

[rustigsmed]

Fantastic image congratulations. There is something about people taking their gear to the max!

I had actually been curious as to the result of using a non- cooled DSLR with a serious amount of imaging time (mega). You've surely answered the question there!

Inspiring stuff! :thumbsup:

Rusty

PS; most computers would've exploded stacking 439 subs!!

[rmuhlack]

Thanks again for the lovely comments. I think that the humble DSLR is actually quite a capable astroimaging tool (more than people often give it credit for), and with careful balancing of the capture settings and sub calibration you can really get some good results (albeit with a trade-off to dynamic range).

I have an updated version here, where I have tweaked the curves ever so slightly to try to improve the contrast and bring out some more of the cirrus which is there without also amplifying the noise too much. A hi-res version of this image can be found here: http://www.astrobin.com/82767/C/

I have also attached an "ultra-stretch" to give some indication of the cirrus that the camera has picked up, however it is proving a challenge to elegantly present this at full res.

[batema]

Congratulations on a fatastic image. What brand scope were you using and at that size it truely is a magical image. Well done.

[rmuhlack]

My desktop has an AMD Phenom X6 1075T CPU (6 physical cores) with 32GB of RAM. The processor is a couple of years old now but it does the job. Calibration and stacking still takes several hours using Pixinsight with that many subs, and because the CPU spends much of that time with all cores at 100% I've upgraded the CPU cooler as well (its now *HUGE*)

[rmuhlack]

Thanks Mark. The OTA is a small Celestron 130mm f5 newtonian, which originally started out life as a 130SLT although it is now long since separated from its original alt-az mount. It has been upgraded with a 2 inch focuser (with Robofocus), a larger secondary to increase the full illumination of the image circle, and tube rings fixed to a losmandy dovetail. I'm using a basic MPCC, and am guiding with a 200mm FL f4 Nikkor camera lens as a guide scope in conjunction with a QHY5LII and a Geoptik Nikon-T2 adapter. All riding on a HEQ5.