NGC (Silver Coin) as requested

[leon]

Hi Guys, well i have been given a bit of stick on the last image of this object, and rightfully so, it seems like i got a bit carried away with the processing.

Anyway I have redone it, and went with the suggestions made by the more experienced, so please have a look at it and let me know if it is done a little better. :shrug:

Processed in Image Plus, Average stacked, not Add 2, like i have been doing all this time, and no sharpening at all, just a little contrast, and a small crop to enlarge it a bit.

Leon :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Looks a little less noisy :thumbsup:
Looks like there are still dark rings around the stars?
If you havn`t done any unsharp masking just some contrast, there must be something going on with the stacking? Is there any deconvolution happening with the stacking as this could do this if its set to harshly? This would also bring out the noise more as well.
I don`t have image plus so I can only guess what might be happening. Maybe someone with this software might know the best settings?
cheers Gary

[leon]

Thanks Gary, yep, it would be good if some experienced person here who uses Image Plus, give an idea of the best setting options.

Thanks for the comments.

Leon

[ballaratdragons]

It's still a beautiful picture, Leon.

Yeah, processing is an art all on its own. We could have a fantastic image sitting in the data, and yet not be able to pull it out. There is such a fine balance between WOW and YUK.

I still occasionally practice processing on old images.

[Geoff45]

Nice image Leon. On another matter, look closely at the bright star on the right of the pic. Notice the two dark notches? This is the "dark lane/spikey star" problem that a lot of refractors seem to exhibit and no one knows why. My WO apo shows them--just look at some of my postings. They even appear on pics by some Astrophysics refractors (The finest and most expensive refractors on the planet). There was a big discussion about these on the WO Yahoo site a while back. Suggestions were pinched optics or somehow being caused by light reflecting from the lens spacers, but no definite conclusions were reached. Maybe you could ask your Tak supplier if he can explain the phenomenon. I'd be interested if there was a way to get rid of them.
Geoff

[Alchemy]

my processing lacks a bit of finesse so i cant really coment . other than to say from what ive seen someone who really knows there stuff can really bring a picture to life. So i went out last weekend and bought photoshop astronomy the book it covers a lot of situations like this....ask me in about 2 mths i might be able to help.

I suspect youve got the nessesary data there though so keep going.

[leon]

Thanks guys for trying to help, and Geoff what you explained in regard to refractors, i was not aware of, and will look into this, other than that i expect i will just keep going.

As Bert actually said to me a short while ago," Leon, you are getting there, you have a full tank of fuel and half a pack of smokes, just go for it".

I took it that he was saying, just keep at it and finally you will get there, good advice i reckon.

Just another point that i would like to make here is this, the image we are talking about looks quite fine on my monitor, and it is really hard to detect any noise, so i suspect that it will appear different on other monitors, bringing out the noise etc :shrug:

Leon :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

Never mind the quality feel the width! I think that concentrating on secondary or tertiary effects of optics is fruitless and these are only apparent with very bright stars. Show me a full resolution sixteen bit image and then it may be judged for the quality of the optic. A reduced JPG with inherent artefacts is no measure of any optic.

Bert

[leon]

That is a very good point Bert.

Leon

[leon]

Well just to put a different spin on this discussing, I sat there looking at the image and thought to myself, well, it looks pretty good to me and i have achieved quite a bit over the last 12 months, the guiding has come together, and all is working well for me. ;)

At the end of the day, and after all you good people have commented and given advice, this image will probably hang on my wall and i will be proud that i was actually able to get this result, and we will move on to the next image.

Thanks to all, for your help

Leon :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

Leon I think you have a great capture there something to be very proud of...

I feel the quest for perfection sometimes stands in the way of appreciating what has been achieved.

I am very impressed with the detail in your image ... look at the doughnut not the hole... and see the glass as half full not half empty.

alex

[Ric]

A great looking image Leon, I love the way it resembles a giant island just hanging there in space.

Cheers

[leon]

Thanks Alex and Ric, for the encouragement, and yep i'm proud of all my images, i think being able to capture these objects at all is a great feat, well it is for me.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Leon we humans always look for greener pastures..it is a curse.
I absolutely agree that to capture what we do is really something.
Perfectionism is great but for many it stands in the way of appreciating the moment... seeing the good in everything is the key to happiness.
alex

[leon]

Your a wise man Alex.

Cheers Leon

[RB]

I believe that there's nothing wrong with the optics on these high end refractors.
On the contrary this actually indicates their high optical quality.
The star in question is HIP 3834, a multiple star and multiple stars cause this effect as the refractor splits the two light paths.

[Geoff45]

Hi Andrew
You have raised an interesting point which is worth more discussion, but I don't want to sidetrack this thread. I think I'll gather some info and start a new thread, which may be of interest to refractor owners.
Geoff