Antenna Galaxies added data

[gregbradley]

I have added extra LRGB data to this image. Its now around 16 hours or so.
Tricky to process but I am happy with the result.

After seeing M & T's superb image it reminded me I have never taken a decent image of this one. It is quite a dim object and fairly small.

I have done 2 nights on this. The first night's data was only partly used as it wasn't in focus enough. Also I think flats may help this data. There seems to be very little vignetting so I haven't bothered so far but processing this seem to leave a slight large red hot spot which took a bit to remove.

But last nights was accurate. I probably will do another night on this one as its still a bit noisy. Its 8 hours and 20 minutes so far. I have some Ha I may add as well if its good enough.

ASI183mm Pro and AP RHA 305 F3.8.

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/170645463/large

Greg.

[Placidus]

Good one. You've brought out the faint detail in the clubbed end of the top right antenna. We found it very difficult finding a balance between showing that faint structure, showing the detail in the core, and maintaining some sort of balance overall. You've succeeded nicely.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that. There are some clear nights forecast over the next week and I intend to get more data for it. Its quite a dim galaxy really.

Greg.

[Atmos]

You've done a good job there Greg. It's difficult to get a smooth result on the faint tidal tails so with only 8 hours of exposure on this pair :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Colin. I took some flats last night. I plan on getting some extra hours on it tonight as its looking to be clear. Another night's exposure if I get it should improve it again. Not sure if the flats will lift it or not yet. They might.

Greg.

[PeterSEllis]

Nice shot, it is a difficult object to process, especially getting those arms to come out, without saturating the core. :)

Cheers
Peter

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter.

I plan on getting some extra time on this one tonight if I can.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

That is good work Greg particularly for a relatively small amount of data.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rodney. I took more exposure over the weekend but had little success in adding it in. Gee astrophotography is often hard!
I'll try to add it again.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I added extra data to this and its now around 16 hours or so of data.

Tricky to process but I am happy with the result.

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/170645463/large regular view

https://pbase.com/gregbradley/image/170645463/original large view

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

The latest iteration looks good. It would be a fine composite target if you added some CDK17 data ;)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter. It actually has some CDK data in it already.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

A definite improvement with the extra data Greg. Looking good and much clearer around the galaxy core.

[Placidus]

Looking seriously good. One can now follow the right hand antenna past where it starts to curve back again. Excellent.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rodney. It took a long time to process. Sometimes astro images just won't behave!




Thanks M & T it was you fabulous image that was inspiration to image it.

This little ASI183mm Pro camera has 84% QE in green and still I believe around 70% in Ha like the Sony ICX694 sensor (it has 70% QE in Ha).

I find its also the most sensitive camera I have used for S11.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Looks great Greg. :thumbsup: That's something I'd like to try now I have the narrow field for it. I wonder if you still need a dark sky when doing small galaxy fields. For sure gradients wouldn't be an issue anymore? :question:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marc. Yes I think small sensors do seem to handle light pollution better than larger sensors.

Greg.

[multiweb]

I had given up doing color from home 5 or 6 years ago but I might give it a go with the CN-212. My fov is 40'x30'.

[topheart]

Nice antennae Greg!
Cheers,
Tim

[gregbradley]

Hard to say without trying and some good gradient removal techniques. The best one I have found is the photoshop Apply Image technique.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Tim.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Colour looks good to me Greg, Star colours are a bit at odds but I wonder if you have some focus related stuff going on there? Similarly the detail looks a bit soft to me. Did you have some high FWHM values in the mix?

[gregbradley]

Its a mix of RHA and CDK data, mostly RHA. Seeing was probably just OK to poor.

Star colours is something I don't have a handle on yet with this new camera. Not sure if its because it 12bit or I need to do shorter exposures.

I think the next target I will try out doing some shorter exposures for the RGB and see how that works out.

I could have filtered some worse FWHM subs but they weren't that bad.

Greg.