My latest attempt at M83

[Garyh]

Hi Everyone,
Here is my latest attempt at M83 from a few weeks back when we had that run of nice clear skies..:) I think it came out pretty good although as I remember I had to quit imaging due to fog rolling in.
Image is 14 x 6 min at iso 800 with 6" newt and my 300D.
Stacked in DSS and finished in PS.
Guided with PHD and unmodded Toucam.
Image is 100% crop of original.

Hopefully get some more clear weather as soon as the moon is out of the way.
All comments most welcome especially color balance!

cheers Gary....:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Beautiful image, Gary. The stars are perfectly round! Excellent work.

[gbeal]

It's a ripper.
Slightly soft? Maybe, but man that would be being picky, very.

[Zuts]

Great stuff Gary,

I am also dying to have a crack at this.

It looks very blue to me but then all the other m83's i have seen look very blue as well. The stars look the right colour as well, also the star forming regions of the galaxy, so I am no expert but the tonal balance looks OK by me :thumbsup:

Paul

[Dennis]

Hi Gary

Well, that is a stunning image, well done. Nicely processed and beautiful to look at. As always, more data would have reduced the slightly visible noise in the arms but like Gary, that is being a little too picky.

The background sky processing looks very nice and natural on my monitor, you’ve done a good job there. That homemade Newt of yours sure is a beauty by the looks of this image.

Cheers

Dennis

[Tamtarn]

Terrific effort Gary. Considering the amount you have to crop the image we can see your tracking is spot on !

[dugnsuz]

Excellent work Gary and nice processing too.
I like the way you've captured the Ha details in the spiral arms.
Doug

[Alchemy]

gday gary.

that is a ripper of an image, and youve only used a 6 inch scope it has the detail of at least a 10 inch so its seriously good.

As for colour consider this, when people put up m20 its pink yet with other Ha emissions they suddenly become red, i think its a bit like coffee just add sugar to taste, some like it sweet some dont, not only that but all monitors are different unless you have a calibration setup, i personally think when we process images we do it in a way that promotes what we think is there or should be there rather than just enhancing what we have captured... (a large discussion on blue nebs was done a little while ago and although they were blue that was the color of the oxygen emissions and was accurate, it just didnt get the redder Ha emmissions).

Ask yourself are the stars all blue perhaps, could there be large amounts of oxygen, is it blue shifted from movement.... i dont know for sure, just give yourself an image you like, theres no such thing as a perfect image, you can fault them all if you look hard enough.... one day when the james web scope is up we will look at hubble shots and go ..puh... not enough detail.

i am always amazed at the detail you can squeeze out of that scope.

cheers clive.

[Ric]

Well done Gary, a lovely image.
You have brought out the details of the dust lanes in the spiral arms very nicely indeed.

A very pleasing image to view.

[EzyStyles]

love it gary. image looks really smooth . the centre of the galaxy reveals alot of the fainter details which you don't often see. well done :)

[Matty P]

A very nice image Gary, very smooth and crisp. Nice processing aswell.

Well done.

[Garyh]

Thanks Mike, Gary, Paul, Dennis, Barb and Dave, Doug, Clive, Ric, Eric and Matty!
I`m quiet pleased with the result, maybe the very core is a little burned out but and a little noise showing . Hopefully next time I can get 2hrs + exposure. Its one of my favorite galaxies!
Thanks everyone for the comments...:thumbsup:
Till next time...
cheers Gary

[spearo]

very good job!
I'm itching to produce anything this good myself!
frank