Milky Way - A Widefield Space Walk

[2020BC]

Subject: The Milky Way - A detailed widefield centred on M6
Exposure: 18 x 4 mins (72 mins) 800 ISO 12 Darks 10 Flats
Camera: Canon 350D unmod
Lens: Canon 50mm f1.8 @f6.3
Mount: Meade LXD-75 unguided
Location: Canberra, PM 05Aug07
Process: Alignment, flats and darks in MaxDSLR. Photoshop curves, etc.

The field of view is approximately 24 degrees.

Check out how this cheap little lens catches M8 and M20 looking sharp - at the extreme left edge of the field.

To view larger image click here (2.0 MB) (http://www.zodiaclight.com/images/M7MilkyWay50mm18x4Minsf1-8atf6-3ISO800AveragedDarksFlat06Aug07try4 SPACEWalk.jpg)

Critique most welcome.

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop:

Fantastic work Bill!!!!!!!!!!!!

You've got nebulas everywhere! Emission, Reflection, Dark!
A great Panorama of a great area of the sky :thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

Cats paw, Trifid, Lagoon, all looking beautiful and so familiar now!:eyepop:

I love it! Well done Bill. More please....:thumbsup:

Baz.:D

[Bassnut]

That link is very nice hi res Bill, does the image justice, and even with max zoom it looks clean and excellent guiding. Right at the limit with DSLR super wide field imaging, sooo many stars ;-). And that those diffraction spikes, love em.

[jase]

This is an amazing piece of work Bill. Thoroughly enjoyed it. From M20 and M8 at the left of field, right of center NGC6357 and NGC6334, then what looks like IC4628 far right with the “table of scorpius” cluster. The FOV is incredible. It is pleasing to see dslr’s going deeper, collecting more than 1-hour worth of data. We all know the more data you capture the smoother the result. In my opinion you can never have enough data, but at some point you’ve got to draw the line. My only negative comment on this image is I don’t believe your flats are working well for you. The reason I say this as there appears to be a discolouration band across the bottom of the frame. This results in the appearance field not being equal or balanced. I believe Bert did some investigation around this and discovered the issue is related to the flip mirror or lockup process (really can’t remember), but it appeared to slightly block the light path. You could create an artificial flat in PS to remedy the colour band as an alternative. Overall, the processing looks in tune. You’ve done a great job of bringing out dark nebulae details without clipping data. Well done! :thumbsup:

[Tamtarn]

That's a beautiful widefield Bill. There's so much detail so many DSO's :eyepop:

[erick]

It's fantastic, but I'm lost - too many stars. Can someone (if Bill doesn't mind) draw some constellations in and mark key features for me. Thanks.

[Ingo]

Looks amazing. Looks like just a little bit off focus as it's a little soft.

Other than that, great capture!

[RB]

Bill what a wonderful capture this is.
So much detail to look at, great work indeed.

One comment I'd like to make is that I think the colour balance can be improved slightly.
Would you mind if I have a go adjusting the colour balance ?

[Garyh]

Excellent widefield Bill!!!
As sharp as you can get and lovely and smooth.
Well framed with lots of deepsky goodies..
Keep it up!!... :thumbsup:

[Dr Nick]

Wow! thats great! ;)

[sheeny]

That's superb, Bill!

Well composed and executed!

Al.

[2020BC]

Everyone: Thankyou all, very much for your kind comments.
Rocketboy: No problem. Go right ahead.
Eric: Good idea. No promise, but if I get the time I'll create a marked up copy for you.
Jase: Great to get feedback from you. Thanks for the tip.
Ingo: With focus - I'll try better next time.

[ballaratdragons]

Here ya go Eric, the main DSO's on Bills pic. :thumbsup:

[RB]

Thank you Bill I appreciate the opportunity.
I've adjusted to colour balance and have uploaded the large image (original size) on the IIS server.


To view large image click here (2.0 MB) (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/BC-mway.jpg)

[2020BC]

In your version the stars are more golden/bronze which I like. Mine is pallid by comparison. In my workflow I balance red/green/blue evenly -i.e. I get the RGB histograms to line up - to have approx. overlapping peaks. Is this workflow a problem?

[2020BC]

Ken, I'd like to load your markings onto my website, if that's okay. I'll link your site and credit you. (It'll save me the effort...!):lol:

[erick]

Many thanks Ken, I just knew this was a job for you. Now I can find my way around the image. I just get lost when all these extra (billions in this case!?) of stars appear that I don't see through the eyepiece! :)

[RB]

Your workflow sounds similar to mine Bill but when I opened your original into Photoshop it showed me the histogram below (1st image).
The green and blue channels are shifted in relation to the red.
Do you adjust so that the peaks line up or the start of the histograms to line up?

I basically adjusted the channels so that the beginning of the histograms virtually line up (2nd image).

Your histograms though are nice and smooth compared to mine since I used your web version to work from.

Your data is great and has lots of detail, once again it's a great image and thank you for the opportunity to work with your image.

[richardo]

Top stuff Bill,
I love these super wide fields showing us 'drain pipe' imagers the 'real' time view of where every thing's located in this busy constellation that is the heart of our wonderful galaxy.

I also like your second post with designations.

A great piece of work.
Congrats.

All the best
Rich

[2020BC]

Rocketboy:
I use the peaks, because I've been told that if one adjusts the image so that the background sky is "black" (i.e. make it a dark shade of grey) then the overall image won't have a color cast to it. They say that the peaks have to line up. So, I've been trying to get a color balance where the average value across the background of my images will yield average R,G & B pixel values that are nearly equal. I don't know if this is a problem or a good thing. Gosh, there's a lot more for me to learn!:lol:

Richardo:
That's some impressive drainpipe imaging you've been doing!