First Proper Deep Sky Attempt - criticism welcomed.

[Stonius]

Hi Guys, I got this data months ago. Finally had some quiet time to process. Apologies for being the millionth image of Eta Carinae on this site, but hey, I figured I'd start with bumping my head on the low hanging fruit.

This is my first proper-proper attempt. I've messed around with star removal, high band pass filtering, etc. Not sure what else I could do to improve it at this stage.


Narrowband, 10 x 300s exposures.


PI & PS processing.


Shot with a Gemini and Esprit 120 on ASI1600 Pro. ASI Filters.


So, um, yeah, go ahead tell me what I could do better.


Astrobin version here for the pixel-peepers https://www.astrobin.com/full/409523/0/



Best


Markus

[assbutt94]

That's a very impressive image, well done!

I've noticed the slight blurring around some stars on the full resolution, is that from the star reduction? It's not very noticeable, I zoomed in 100%

[RyanJones]

Hi Markus,

Great image, well done.

As Nathan said, if you go pixel picking you can see processing artifacts around the stars. I’ve had this happen too and it’s from using the High Pass Filter. You could try using Minimum instead set at between 0.3 and 0.8 pixels with maintain “ roundness “ selected instead. It has a similar star reducing effect but with more control. If you have the preview set on a good section of nebulosity and play around with the pixel size and go as close to 0.8 as possible before you start seeing blotchiness in the preview pane.

I hope this helps. You’ve got great data there. Good work:thumbsup:

Ryan

[Stonius]

Thanks for the feedback.

I ended up removing the stars altogether in Photoshop. I did play with getting them smoother, but obviously it didnt fool the experts here! :-) I'll have another look and try and get a better result on that. Lots of experimentation required, I think.

:-)

Markus

[Ukastronomer]

I have the same scope, nice image

Did you use a field flattener, I am just asking as I don't have one

[Stonius]

I did use the field flattener. It came with the scope. Im suprised yours didnt come with one. I got the scope second hand, but The thought the new Esprit 120's ship with the flattener?


Cheers


Markus

[Ukastronomer]

This is the UK we don't get deals from OVL the UK Skywatcher importer

[xelasnave]

Wonderful image which I would not fault.
Alex

[casstony]

I agree with Alex - you're outclassing the rest of us in the beginners forum Markus.

[Jeff]

Lovely work!

Maybe you could consider copying in some RGB (or one shot colour) stars through a star mask …. as a future project. But it's already a stunner!