Statue of Liberty

[Tony Leece]

NGC 3576 The Statue of Liberty nebula
The longest single target imaging session i have done
6 hours and 20 minutes of unguided 2 minute subs
Bortle 6-7
SW ED 80
Optolong L-extreme filter
ZWO 533mcp
AZEQ6gt mount


277013

[bojan]

Excellent work.. however it is NGC 3576, not 5376

[RyanJones]

Well done Tony. Well framed and quite natural looking processing. Also some nice star shapes given it was unguided. :thumbsup:

[Tony Leece]

Thanks guys
Sorry Bojan it's been a long weekend:)

[Startrek]

Tony,
Big effort paid off , lovely image nicely framed
Well done !!
That big AZEQ6 mount tracks really well and with a light payload ( ED80 ) and Image scale obviously allows you to push those longer unguided subs and keep your stars nice and round

Cheers
Martin

[Startrek]

Tight polar alignment helps too !!
Keep those images coming

[Tony Leece]

Thanks Martin. the AZ is my first powered mount, i love it :D

[xelasnave]

Nice one Tony ...indeed the mount seems to be a gem.
May I suggest as a next step to get into Startools ...and I know you dont need it but trust me it will be more than worth the very small investment.
Before I started using it I could not see the point but once I got my head around it, and it is so easy to learn and use, I wondered why I did not use it much earlier...one thing I find is it is magic in reducing noise..in my case I did not even realise I had noise until using Startools.
Given you have produced such a fine image I dont feel good suggesting this but rather I will ask...do you go thru your subs and critically asses them? Mr Dillon O'Donnell suggests an important step is throwing out anything that does not cut it...I tried it and he is right..it makes a huge difference...it is hard..like offing some of your kids but the ones that remain benefit greatly.
Anyways keep them coming I for one really enjoy seeing how folk just keep improving...
Alex

[Tony Leece]

Thanks Alex, i will look into startools mate cheers
Yes i do get lazy and not check all my subs, i know i really should but this one had 190+ narrowband subs which are incredibly dark when loaded into DSS.
I gave up as i couldn't really see any stars to check.
Do you know an easier way to view subs for selection?
I really appreciate your help and tips Alex mate :)

[xelasnave]

Hi Tony
Thank you for not telling me to take a flying leap. Now dont complain about how many..I once went thru 750 and when they were down to 700 went thru again to get to 650 and again to get to 600 ..one could ask was it worth it and I say yes it was if I can I will find the two so you can see the improvement in detail.
I use my file manager to view photos..I think it is just a windows come with it deal...right click it says view or open...and you can then skrol thru the lot..but yes you will go bats using DSS just hunt and find better...you may notice on some stars a slight "fuzz" ...you will eliminate that almost certainly..if not Startools has a "repair" which works sometimes, but not always at least for me, that will fix those stars if not fixed earlier in the process.
When checking you should see at least one star so just go on it..if it is ok chances are they will all be ok..if its crook well the chances are they will all be crook in that sub...however do whatever it takes and if you google you will find ways to do it one of which will suit you I expect.
Another thing, I think you use Gimp?, find the "dodge and burn tool" ...later on when more skilled one would use a masking technique but this is a magic short cut...it allows lightening or darkening of selected areas...and this can do wonders..I think it is frowned upon but heck until you develop the "better" skills why not...but dont over do it...be subtle.
And please realise I am just a mug who really does not know what he is doing but thru trial and error I think I can help a little plus one would like to think if I am horribly wrong someone will jump in and point out a better approach.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Here are two of the Lagoon Neb.
Each were the result of stacking data from two different fields of view in an effort to select from a very large number of subs. One was as good as I could get and then one from critical selection..to me the detail was better in the one where I became super critical...actually looking at them I dont know anymore...now I know the colour needs works..thats for another time ..this was a processing experiment in maximising detail..And you can see that I was just a little heavy handed with the "burn" tool as it blacked stuff out just a little too much. Exposures were all under 60 seconds and gain was thru the roof something I seem to get away with thanks to Startools noise reduction magic.
The first one was the super critical one.
Alex

[Startrek]

Tony,
Great comments and advice from Alex
Startools , yes give it a go , I’ve been using it for 4 years now and it’s so easy to use , very powerful and works well with all levels of data
DSS , I use DSS to stack my L Extreme subs , even when I lower the threshold to 2% I only achieve 20 or 30 stars ( 10 stars is enough to stack )
Checking Subs , I use ASTAP to check my subs ( fits files ) works really well, opens and stretches fits files for close examination, recommend it

Cheers
Martin

[xelasnave]

Thanks from me for that tip re viewing Martin.
That second image I just realised that I was also defocusing the edges to give a tunnel effect.. artistic approach;)
Alex

[Tony Leece]

WOW Thanks guys for sharing your experience with me. i did have a Star tools trial that i let run out before trying it. i have just looked and i can still use it,but am not able to save the file. I will have a play with it asap.
Thanks again :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

I trialed it and did not get anywhere but I did once I purchased it for some reason.
Alex