M83 from ARO

[ericwbenson]

So I finally stopped playing with this data set, here are links to the half resolution (http://www.faintgalaxy.com/ngc5236.htm), and full resolution (http://www.faintgalaxy.com/ngc5236_full.htm) images. The telescope used was a Planewave 20" CDK on a Paramount ME with an Apogee U16M camera located at my remote observatory near Arkaroola, S.A. The data was acquired at about the same time as the Arp 244 image so I still had issues with stars out of the field of view causing reflection artifacts. The integration time was not very long (<3hrs for each filter), but since this object is so bright it didn't need too much anyways.

It was processed entirely in MaxIm, except for the deconvolution step which was done with the ancient CCDSharp software. I was quite surprised at how well this image responded to the decon, going from 1.9" raw to ~1.3" FWHM.

The processing steps were:
-calibration using bias, dark and flat
-stacking using sigma clip combine
-flatten background using MaxIm tool and superflats generated from the image itself
-deconvolution for Lum channel
-DDP for each channel separately while keeping s-curve parameters matched
-a little extra gamma stretch on the L channel
-adjust bgd for all frames to the same level (btw this removes unwanted color shifts when combining with a non 1:1:1 RGB ratio)
-LRGB assembly
-color balance tweak (at this point large changes can get one totally lost since you have to mind the black points and the scale simultaneously)
-saturation adjust
-crop edges
-unsharp mask of brighter portion of galactic disk

The attached file here is x4 reduced in size and cropped.

Enjoy,
EB

[prokyon]

Yes, I enjoy! Stunning image!

[gregbradley]

That's a beauty. Planewave made some new baffles they will send out as a kit and you can install yourself to help with those stray light streaks from bright out of field stars. I don't get them much anymore but they were a problem very often before.

Greg.

[alpal]

Hi Eric,
Wow - there is so much incredible detail - I looked at all the sizes.
There are faint galaxies that I've never seen before in the background.
I would have been a little more aggressive in the processing but
what you have looks so natural & pleasing.

cheers
Allan

[lazjen]

Nice image.

So many galaxies in there - have you tried to count them? :)

[Peter.M]

That image scale! Nothing beats long focal length on these galaxies.

[marc4darkskies]

That image put a big smile on my face Eric. :) Wonderful scale (oversampling is your friend when Decon'ing), displayed at full resolution (= nothing to hide), outstanding detail with good processing (seamless, unobtrusive though somewhat understated). One of the best images of M83 I've seen on this forum! Barely noticed the reflection artefacts.

Cheers, Marcus

[Rigel003]

Absolutely fantastic image, Eric. Beautifully processed and a joy to look at all that fine detail.

[Spookyer]

Epic!

[Astro_Bot]

Move over Hubble! :)

[RickS]

Great image, Eric. There's detail in a bunch of the small fuzzies I haven't seen before.

Cheers,
Rick.

[allan gould]

Stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joshua Bunn]

You certainly lives up to your websites name there, that is so beautiful! Truly awesome Eric.

[SimmoW]

congrats, wonderful image, so much detail

[multiweb]

That's very nice indeed. Love the colours and image scale. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Lovely resolution, certainly has a big scope under excellent sky conditions look about it..wow :thumbsup:

Only slight negative is the spotty background from the decon (?) really only noticable at full res though :)

A great M83

Mike

[Octane]

Oh, my. :O :O :O

H

[graham.hobart]

Just incredible! :D

[ZeroID]

Will just 'Wow' do ?
Eveyone else has used all the good superlatives .... :D

[acarleton]

Amazing :eyepop:

[astronobob]

Totaly breath-taking view from my little astro eyes :eyepop: :thumbsup:

[Joshua Bunn]

1 vote for IOTW ;)

[gvanhau]

Here my :eyepop::eyepop:

[cazza132]

That is amazing! Even picking up details with the galaxies in the background! The images coming from these sorts of scopes are just stunning! And every time I see this sort of work, I think more about buying some land out west and setting up a good scope when I retire! Love it. I'd like to see a full mosaic :)

[dvj]

Now THAT's image scale!:eyepop:

[alpal]

Yes - me too but they ain't cheap:

http://planewave.com/products-page/telescopes/20-inch-cdk-optical-tube-assembly/#.U0xKd1fMcfQ

[Shiraz]

That is an outstanding image Eric - professional quality in all respects. Your remote site is delivering on seeing.

[LewisM]

Just jaw-dropping.

I think I need to move the family to SA

[Paul Haese]

Superb detail in the full res version. Saturation could be upped a little in my opinion but for the most part it is very nice. The background is a bit speckled and there is some ringing around stars that you might want to address. Some selective smoothing on the background would take care of most of the speckle or more data collection would work better.

I like the very round stars. BTW is this with the new mount or the PME?

[DJT]

Beautiful image Eric. Just spent a happy 10 minutes swimming around in the full res. Very nice indeed.

[Peter Ward]

One of the most impressive M83's I've seen.

Nice one. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Chris85]

Amazing! And as a new user to Maxim, I really appreciate your processing walk through :D

[Harel_Boren]

Very, very nice !!! One of the most interesting views I've ever seen of this object !
Cheers,
Harel

[atalas]

Fine work.

[kana]

Phwoar...incredible!