M83 .fits stack

[bluescope]

Hi

This a different version of previous post of M83. This one is from using raw .fits files in DSS to give 82Mb image to process. I think it is a bit smoother than stacking RGB DDP files as in the last post.

:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Nice details and colour Steve, the xtensions of the spiral arms look great as well.

Cheers

[bluescope]

Thanks Ric I think it's better than the previous version ay !

:thumbsup:

[Tamtarn]

Definitely your best so far Steve. Whatever you did to process this image you're on the right track :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Very nice Steve!
Looks fairly smooth and a nice color balance.
Might do with some more exposure to bring out even more detail.
:thumbsup:

[bluescope]

Thanks Dave, getting there !

:thumbsup:




Cheers Gary, I could always do with more exposure !

:thumbsup:

[Alchemy]

Come a long way since the days of 20 sec exposures .... and its paying rewards.

[bluescope]

Yes indeed Clive ... thanks to the SBIG ST2000XCM ! Cheers !

:thumbsup:

[Tandum]

Lots of colour steve looks a lot better than the one I caught tonight.
This one is half a dozen 5min subs at iso400 with M83 approaching zenith from the east. My longer exposures after these didn't show the object due to pollution to the west of me. I gotta move :lol:

I added an image of what it is supposed to look like :) of course it's clipped for the purists but wooohooo...

[bluescope]

Hi Tandum

Images such as the one you have posted as an example usually take several hours or more with dedicated CCD astro cameras mounted on high quality scopes and mounts etc. Here is a link to an IIS members image of M83 that took 6.1 hours to collect. Jase is one of the guys to emulate on this site .....

http://www.cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=145&fld_album_id=12

I think you could probably get a better image with your data by using GradienXTerminator, I find it very useful. As Jase would say taking the image is only part of the game, the processing is the rest.
I have a long way to go yet to get anywhere near his and a few other members standard. Keep at it !
I've done a quick adjustment of your image with GXT and PShop .... hope you don't mind.

:thumbsup:

p.s. I've gotta move as well .... hate the city lights !

[Tandum]

That GXT looks like it works a lot better than my gradient attempts in PS. It's about $50 isn't it?

[bluescope]

Yep US$49.95 but you can download a free 30 day trial version to see if you like it first. I think you will.

http://www.rc-astro.com/resources/GradientXTerminator/

I just paid for my license today actually because it does the job very well.

Cheers

:thumbsup: