M17 been awhile - Ha added - updated image

[allan gould]

Its been a while since I've done anything related to astrophotography as I felt I needed a complete break.

Havn't even touched a scope since Astrofest last year nor had I bothered to look at any of my images that I took at the camp as I've been too involved with street photography and general imaging with a couple of new cameras.

However I did try to process some images from last year that I had not done and the first of these was M17 which was a blend of 10x5min each RGB; 10x10min Luminance and 4x15min Ha. The scope was my 5"APO on an EQ6 (Hypertuned and belt drive modded) using SGP with auto focus etc . I will have to reprocess this with Pixinsight as I feel there is a lot more in the data but since my PC has had to be re-built I need to find the download and passwords etc.

Comments welcomed,
Allan

UPDATE
After getting Geoff Biggs to assist with Pixinsight I realised that I had Ha data that could be added to the image so I tone mapped it into the LRGB data. Geoff had massaged the Ha to reveal a wealth of dust and I was pleased with the combination that this added to the image.
As usual - comments welcomed.
Allan

[Geoff45]

There's nice sharp detail Alan and you are right about there being a lot more data. I had a go with your image in PixInsight and there's a lot of background nebulosity lurking there. Also looks nice if you kick up the saturation with Curves (PI version) while using a background mask.
Geoff

[allan gould]

Managed to do a quick re-hash of the data to bring out more of the nebulosity which I think is an improvement

[batema]

Looks good Allan. Are you going to astrofest? Adam and I have managed to get the school to cover us so we can go for the whole 10 days as professional development.

[RickS]

Welcome back :)

A nice change from all the narrowband images of M17, Allan.

Cheers,
Rick.

[allan gould]

Yes, wouldn't miss it for anything - but I'm going to keep it very simple this year and concentrate only on a few objects. See you two there.



Thanks Ric - enjoyed the break.
Allan

[acropolite]

Very nice image, good to see you're still active, hopefully we'll make Astrofest this year as well.

[alan meehan]

Hey Allan good to see the old been awhile nebula I have seen lots of those ,good processing you have done better than me I have not done anything for over 12 mths,except for build a new obs ,and buy a new mount and new scope, will have next week
AL

[h0ughy]

well, since i haven't imaged deepsky since astrofest 2013 i think the drought does need to be broken and your duck does look a treat

[allan gould]

Will see you there and its good to see Im still active (especially when I wake up).


Looks like we have all been a bit quiet Alan, but at least you are getting together new Kit and I wish it all comes together sweetly.


Thanks for the comments David. Much appreciated but I hope the new obs in its new location gives you a lot better enjoyment but remember its a longer trip to Bunnings now if you need the odd nut and bolt :rofl:
And just for you I went along to Geoff Biggs and he applied the mastery of Pixinsight to my image (and then I had a little fiddle with PS-couldn't help myself).
See attached.

[alan meehan]

:thumbsup:That's a winner in my books Allan the stars leap out ,and the dust is lovely,worth putting into this years photo comp
AL

[Ross G]

Great looking capture Allan.

Welcome back.

Ross.

[allan gould]

Thanks for the comments Alan and Ross. Slowly looking at data and figuring out what to process. Will get back into it soon.
Allan

[Rastas]

So much dust.

[allan gould]

Added 4x15 min Ha data to LRGB after Pixinsight and PS3 processing to bring out the extent of the dust surrounding M17.
More extensive than I thought.
Allan