M83 from Heaven's Mirror

[RickS]

M83 data from Martin Pugh, processing by yours truly. Might still need a bit of tweaking. Feel free to offer frank opinions :)

Scope: Planewave CDK17 @ f/6.8 = 2939mm FL
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STXL-11002/AOX
Filters: Astrodon LRGB gen II, 3nm NB
Image scale: 0.63 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 14x1200s R, 13x1200s G, 15x1200s B, 21x1200s L, 5x1800s x2 Ha (23.5 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8.5

Big version on Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/351189/0/

Cheers,
Rick.

[cometcatcher]

Bloomin awesome! The Ha areas look like edible raspberry swirl. Maybe I shouldn't look at astro pics while hungry. :lol:

[RickS]

Thanks, Kevin. Maybe M83 should be a new ice cream flavour :)

[IanP]

Haven't seen anything like this, Rick, congratulations to you and Martin ...
:hi:

[RickS]

Thanks, Ian. I might have gone a little overboard. Still trying to decide. The data is fantastic so it's just my processing I'm not sure about :)

[strongmanmike]

Lovely Rick, about what I expected after your little galaxy tasters :thumbsup:...the colour is certainly bold and contrasty and the HII regions perhaps a little lipstick in contrast to the arms but personal taste that...grows on ya if you look at it for a while. Some lovely detail across the galaxy and plenty of exposure has done the trick with picking up faint fuzzies, Mike BJ will love it :D.. very nice work fella :)

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Mikey! I might wind it back a little. Always hard to tell. Looks great on my bigass processing monitor but a touch oversaturated on my laptop.

[Stevec35]

Spectacular stuff Rick although I'm thinking the HII regions are perhaps just a bit overdone.

Cheers

Steve

[alpal]

Hi Rick,
that's a top image.
I like the way you've handled the background -
you weren't afraid to leave some noise in it
whereas some people would have smoothed it all out & lost the detail.
The background also shows the black area around M83 which
is missing from so many pics yet is real.
The dead bright center of M83 looks hardened & over sharpened
but that's the only thing I can find for a possible improvement.


cheers
Allan

[Camelopardalis]

That’s an interesting reference image Rick :thumbsup:

Loads of raspberry ripple too, or is that just a pommie flavour? ;)

[Atmos]

It is certainly vibrant on my laptop but doesn't look too over the top :thumbsup:
I agree with Allan, the bright core looks like it's been smashed a little but other than that :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Great work Rick (and Martin). I get the feeling you've tried hard to show background cirrus and the black swirl around it as well as making M83 pop. Stunning...... :)

[astroron]

Definitely looks good enough to eat, Rick
Strawberry flavour is a nice filling.
Great pic. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve. I might wind it back just a bit...



Thanks, Allan. I agree the core is a bit rough and will see if I can improve it.



Thanks, Dunk. I think we have it too :)



Ta, Colin.



Thanks, Rob. Yes, I tried to leave some of the faint stuff. There's a star stream on the left but very faint. Needs a lot more data or a faster scope.



Thanks, Ron!

[gregbradley]

Looks best in the widefield version. The thumbnail not so much.

Perhaps the Ha is a bit bright but in the widefield image it doesn't seem to be so much.

As usual the stars are perfect - man you are so good at that.

Greg.

[E_ri_k]

Looks amazing Rick, superb colour, and the high res looks :eyepop:

Erik

[multiweb]

Superb details in the dust lanes. Almost HST like. Subzero cool. The CDK field is so well corrected. Pretty amazing for that aperture. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[topheart]

Hi Rick,
Great image!
Great data and great stars and so vibrant....I reckon it is good to see a pushed out there interpretation.
Cheers,
Tim

[Paul Haese]

Lovely image Rick. Pity I can't see the full res on Astrobin, but still looks great in the standard link.

[alan meehan]

nice image Rick but I think its a bit too candy toned back I think it would be better lots of good detail in there
AL

[Slawomir]

Amazing detail Rick. It's fascinating how much Ha is in there. Colouring is bold for sure. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

The Astrobin version has been tweaked a little to tone down the Ha (slightly) improve the core and also to emphasise the very, very dim star stream at upper left. The previous version was also at greater than 100% resolution which made any warts even more obvious :) The new version is at the native image scale.



Thanks, Greg! I think the new version is a little more nuanced but hopefully the stars are much the same ;)



Thanks, Marc. The scope does a great job!



Thanks, Tim. Hopefully the new version is still a bit aggressive.



Thanks, Paul. The navigation isn't always obvious but there is a full res version there. Direct link is https://www.astrobin.com/full/351189/0/?real=&mod=



Thanks, Al. Hope the new version is more to your liking.



Thanks, Suavi!

[Placidus]

Astonishing clarity. Wow!

[alpal]

The new version is an improvement.

[atalas]

Excellent :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

A wonderful image for sure Rick. Fabulous detail.

[Peter Ward]

Sometimes less is best...this one's a little too neon for me.

That said...super data. Nice. :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Hey Rick,

I'm torn here - it's dazzling, yes - iridescent, yes - pops, yes - too much? I dunno, maybe? or not?
That said, a darn fine image!, well done :)

PS: I used to be decisive, but now I'm not so sure :P

[gregbradley]

The new version seems better Rick. Love that spray of stars to the top left. Fabulous.

Greg.

[RickS]

Thanks, M&T!



Yes, I think so too thanks Allan.



Ta, Louie.



Thanks, Pete.



Yeah, it's still a bit bright Peter. Jay GaBany made the point at the last AAIC that we're bombarded with saturated colours these days and that's what people expect. Probably need to do at least two versions. One for imagers and one for everybody else :)



Thanks, Andy. You can have some time to make up your mind. I'm not sure either.



Thanks, Greg.

[Geoff45]

Tack sharp Rick. Nicely done

[h0ughy]

always a pleasure looking into the eye of the storm, fantastic details

[Ryderscope]

A great image to use as a benchmark when next we try this object :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks Geoff, H0ughy and Rodney!

[codemonkey]

Awesome data and nicely processed, Rick. I much prefer the one currently on Astrobin.

My 2c... looks like you went heavy with HDRMT, which tends to give a very flat look which I find a bit artificial looking.

[ozstronomer]

Beautiful M83 Rick. The added Ha really adds to the image

Astrobin version looks great :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Lee, and you're right. HDRMT and LHE are best in small doses but occasionally I forget :)



Thanks, Geoff.