NGC253 and NGC288 (work in progress)

[Octane]

Hi all,

Yet another work in progress.

This time, a bit over 6 hours of luminance data on this sparse region.

This is 85% of the full frame (removes the crack on my sensor and dithered/overlapped areas of low signal). In the full resolution image, there are a number of background galaxies visible.

I will add another few hours of luminance before tackling colour.

Processed quickly in PixInsight on the train to work this morning. :)

Larger version here (http://scratch.hqphotography.com.au/ngc253.html).

SBIG STL-11000M, Takahashi FSQ-106N, Losmandy G-11 G
49x450s f/5.0 530.0mm at -20 degrees Celsius

Thanks, for looking!

H

[RickS]

That shows the halo around NGC 253 very nicely, H. You captured a lot of cirrus too. Great stuff!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Rick,

There is loads of cirrus in that area! At first, I thought I had dodgy flats, but, careful use of MMT has brought out incredible detail. Furthermore, I have lowered the contrast with HT and CT. That has reduced the overwhelming cirrus. When all the data is captured, I will emphasise the cirrus.

If you saw how noisy the original image was compared to the smooth result I am showing here, your jaw would drop. I am absolutey floored by how incredibly powerful MMT is! I spent a considerable amount of time learning its ins and outs by working on various previews. Best. Tool. Ever. That, and the HDRMT tool to bring out the dust lanes in the galaxy, where it was previously just a smear. Unreal.

I'll post the original stack when I get home tonight. :)

H

[RickS]

PI has several processes and features that qualify for "Best. Tool. Ever." awards but MMT and MLT certainly win prizes for noise reduction and sharpening :) Look forward to the before vs after comparison, H.

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Great choice of targets and framing there H framing the two objects is very cool. The halo around NC 253 is rather rarely showcased in images of this galaxy but always amazes me as for so many years I thought it only in the grasp of deep and enhanced UK schmidt plates :)

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Totally awesome H! Very impressive in both sharpness and depth. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Wow that's deep!

[batema]

Beautiful image and yes very sharp.

[pluto]

That's very impressive :eyepop:
Great work H!

[alpal]

Nice job.
Looks like Pixinsight is a winner with those tools: MMT & HDRMT

I have only Photoshop CS5 & Fitswork4 for processing.
I think I need to take a look at Pixinsight.

cheers
Allan

[DavidTrap]

Great work H - good to see you back in the saddle!

DT

[rustigsmed]

awesome work H,

great to see you finally out there imaging again! I can still remember looking at your Andromeda galaxy pic.

cheers,

russ

[gregbradley]

Great shot H. Amazing to see how extensive that star halo is around the Sculptor Galaxy.

Greg.

[LightningNZ]

That's a spectacular luminance field. I really wish I could go that deep. Can't wait to escape the Canberra lights.
-Cam

[Rod771]

That's looking very clean H! Lovely detail.

I'm using MLT for noise reduction for 60Da, very powerful tool - Fantastic!

Looking forward to your final colour version! :thumbsup:

[glenc]

Love the wide field and the detail Humayun.

[Octane]

Thank you, so much, everyone! I'm actually quite stoked at the response I've had to this so far. I was going to can it originally, but, once the stacked result worked out, I felt as I should keep going. :)

Mike, the first thing I did when I saw the halo was to go to Google and perform an image search on "ngc253 fsq" and "ngc253 wide field", but, I didn't see anything (immediately) which showed the halo. Even in narrow field images, it is quite faint! So, I was happy to see it in my image. :)

Russell, wow, that was ages ago! Now that I'm at higher latitudes, I hope to attempt it again. Maybe do an even better job than last time! :)

The weather up here is disgusting at the moment. I don't think it's going to clear any time soon, either. Looks like time for a new calibration library.

Anyway, as promised, here is the stacked result straight out of PixInsight. All that I've done is converted it to non-linear with an ASTF and saved to JPG. As you can see, there's a nasty gradient, a lot of noise, and, no detail in NGC253, to speak of! Careful application of PixInsight's powerful tools has revealed detail that I would never have imagined being there!

Thanks, all, once again. :)

H

[Stevec35]

That's looking really good H. Another prize winning image coming up I think.

Cheers

Steve

[Rex]

Wow! Humayan I am gobsmacked. That is absolutely stunning. Can't wait to see the end result.

[strongmanmike]

You mean like this one (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/sculptor_galaxy_ngc_253) :D



Indeed I can imagine, great stuff and as I said cool composition :thumbsup:

Mike

[Octane]

Thank you, Steve and Rex! Got some more data last night. I woke up just as the guide star faded and got outside in time to park the scope and throw the covers over it. We had the first glimpse of sunlight yesterday afternoon since Thursday. The skies cleared up from sunset to 3 AM, so, got a fair amount of imaging done. :)

Mike, yep, I saw your rendition and yours shows the halo quite extensively! It is a beautiful set of images, as usual, too.

I was unable to find other images taken with an FSQ or other widefield scope that showed the same data that I got in my luminance, though. I'm nearing ten hours of data now. :)

H

[Paul Haese]

Cool cirrus H. Field of view is nice too, even cropped this is an interesting look.

[multiweb]

That looks excellent. Superb details. Sharp as. :thumbsup:

[prokyon]

Wow, great! Love the framing and so many details. :eyepop:

[Octane]

Thanks, guys. I've got several more hours of data on it now. It is really taking shape!

There is /so/ much cirrus in the Sculptor region, it is really quite surprising!

H

[niharika]

After seeing your image I am inspired to image this as well specially for cirrus. I wonder if my sky background will be up to it though! How dark is your sky Humayun?

[Octane]

Hi mate,

Well, I live about six kilometres from the coast, and, east of us is darkness. :)

We don't have the best skies in the world, but, dark enough to see the Milky Way very easily.

I'd imagine deep exposures from suburban skies would be quite possible!

H

[Shiraz]

great project H - already a very impressive view and wonderful composition.

[DJT]

Great image, H. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. The detail is quite something. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Great stuff H - looking forward to updates.
As RBA is fond of pointing out, an unusual vista on an otherwise commonly imaged object can really stimulate the eye and the mind!

[Ross G]

A great looking photo H.

So sharp and detailed.

I love the composition!

Ross.