Ngc 55

[Martin Pugh]

Hi all
first post in a while....but I really thought there wouldnt be any photons left of NGC 55 judging by the amount of great shots of this galaxy that have been posted here over the past few weeks.

Anyway, I have been plugging at this for a while and have just finished getting the RGB this lunar dark cycle. So this is a straight LRGB of 6:4:4:4 hours all unbinned, AOL guided throughout.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/NGC55-LRGB.jpg
thanks for looking

best regards and clear skies
Martin

[Peter Ward]

Just finished a late night simulator session....overcast again in Sydney...sigh...and this breath of fresh air drifts over the aether!

Simply excellent, yet again Martin. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Lovely image Martin. The huge number of background Galaxies make the forground galaxy seem almost secondary.
Love it.

[AlexN]

Thats a stunning view of NGC55 Martin.

There is a pair of hard lines to the right and left the galaxy, where it would normally fade into the background (i dont know how to accurately explain what im seeing on my monitor) it looks a bit like the galaxy was cut out of another image and pasted in to this one.. do you know what I mean?

Its a fantastic image in any case, just that hard line bugs me a bit. :)

Alex.

[iceman]

I also see what Alex sees - the selective processing of the galaxy needs more of a feather to blend into the background.

The galaxy itself looks brilliant!

[Garyh]

Well done Martin! look at those background galaxies! and detail in NGC 55!
Yes it looks like some of the layers for the galaxy need some feathering and tweaking to blend into the background a bit better. 10 min extra work for you Martin! and you are finished! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Some lovely resolution there Martin!

You have captured the busy mess in this galaxy very nicely.

The background galaxies look nice and tight too

I see the dark line the others are refering to (what caused this?) but it's not that big a deal really.

I think the small FOV doesn't do the galaxy justice, seems too close with no surrounding space (?) would probably benifit from a two frame mozaic?

Thanks for the look :thumbsup:

Mike

[Lester]

Fantastic.

[atalas]

Awesome Martin !

[peeb61]

So that's what its supposed to look like? Gee whizz Martin!

[h0ughy]

wonderful image to drool over Martin

[Martin Pugh]

Hello all
and thank you very much for your comments.

Now, that's what you get when you 'think' it looks ok on your monitor (even though it is regularly calibrated etc, etc), you post it, and it doesnt look ok.

Thanks for picking that up...it was indeed selective processing, and I knew it was there, lowered the levels, but it survived.

So, for those who are interested...I have redone it...and the link is here.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/NGC55-LRGB.jpg

Hey Mike....I take your point...and I thought about that when I cropped it, as this scene has so many galaxies in the background. This version, is the full FOV of the STL.

Cheers and thanks again

Martin

[winensky]

18 hours... You should bottle and sell patience. I love this galaxy. Morphologically so unusual and similar to the MCs yet with a core. Masterful, the one I posted a couple of weeks back looks like a fuzzy cigar in comparison. I was going to go back to it next year when I get guiding and really spend some time on it but this is the difinitive version. I am in awe.

[Ric]

Hi Martin, what a wonderful and stunning image. you have captured some awesome detail in this one.

Excellent work.

[Octane]

Martin,

Wow -- wonderful work!

Regards,
Humayun

[gregbradley]

Fabulous image.

Whats happening with your Proline - any images coming forth from that setup?

Greg.

[Shawn]

Fantastic resolution, but I agree with a prior post a bit harsh on the dodge or burn tool.. can you do it again with less aggression.. Its a great image...

S

[Martin Pugh]

Hi all...and thanks again for the comments.

Shawn...no dodge and burn tools used in this image.

Greg.....have made some progress.....and even sent the FSQ back to Japan for collimatiion (at great cost)....still not there, and are waiting on a new design CFW from FLI

I believe the Filter carousel itself is causing major tilt in the system giving rise to star elongation and distortion....I am presently doing repeated tests with CCDI and trying to determine if focusser sag is at play also. However, there is only about 8-10mm of drawtube showing. Its a long arduous road...whoever thinks you can plug n play in this game is mistaken.

cheers
Martin

[multiweb]

Hi Martin, great deep shot. How did you process/enhance the galaxy line?

[gregbradley]

Egads, recollimating an FSQ - never heard of that before. Wow.

I have both a FLI CFW 4/5 and an Apogee FW50 filter wheel.

The FLI unit is nice but the Apogee is absolutely state of the art. It has CNC machined ribs in the back of the main front plate which would be really helpful to prevent any flexure, the filter holders will accomodate various thickness filters which no other filter wheel does, and it has a unique click in position setup when the filter arrives at its spot. It also changes filters very quickly. But the main point here is the ribbed front plate which eliminates flexure.

Something to keep in mind if you have no joy with your FLI CFW.

I have also seen stars slightly elongated in one section of an image and put it down to slight flexure in the various adapters. I have simplified my adapter train so hopefully this is reduced. It wasn't too much of a problem but it was there. Also my camera was not at its correct metal back distance from the corrector. Next time it is out I will find out if there is any change. These new cameras are heavy and the Proline is the heaviest of all so it does put a strain on these bits and pieces.

Richard Crisp made an interesting post about these large chips require 4-5X more orthogonality than an STL11. One of the prices of large chipped cameras.

Greg.

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: very nice Martin :)

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Greg...thanks for that.....its a good point you make. If the new CFW doesnt fit the bill, then obviously if you can use a FLI CFW on an Apogee then the reciprocal applies.....and I will certainly invest in that.

Multiweb (sorry, I know that's not your real name!)

okay.......I produced a sum, a mean, and an rgb image. An LRGB image introduced gradients and noise all over the place...probably because I shoot the lum frames during moonlight.
So, I used the RGB only as my baseline colour image. I performed USM on the mean lum, followed by a Minimum filter. Then I deconvolved a version of this image, and layerered it above the mean/min filter version, with selective deletions. I also deconvolved the summed image and layered this as well. I then HPFd the mean/min filter/deconvolved image. I repeated this on the summed/deconvolved image and layered this in again.
I then performed selective curves, star selection followed by selective curves, noise reduction and flattened. This was my master lum.
I then used the standard luminance layering procedure to bring in the colour. Saturation followed
Dont forget...in broadband images...when saturating, you select everything except the background....which is the direct opposite when processing NB images.

Processing tip: try setting the blend mode of a saturation adjustment layer to colour burn and lowering the opacity to 20%

I then repeated the luminance layering method. Now you need to investigate the power of the sponge.....I will let you discover that for yourself.

I then HPFd the colour layer for enhancements at low percentages.
I then performed shadow/highlight procedure with shadows at just 3% and highlights at 16%...which does an amazing job of darkening and enhancing the cores of galaxies.

final steps were colour smoothing and an unsharp mask of 1.5 pixels at 100%

That's most, but not all of the steps...there was probably some bits in there that I have glossed over but is that enough?

cheers
Martin

[AlexN]

Copied, pasted into notepad and saved... I've not used most of those tools in my processing, however will definitely give them a go :)

[sjastro]

Interesting Martin.

All a do is a smart sharpen on the luminance, saturation and noise reduction on the final image. I believe in minimal processing.

Regards

Steven

[multiweb]

Thanks heaps for taking the time to explain Martin. Name's Marc. Just a couple of things I didn't get.

What does USM stand for?


When you say layered we're in PS right?


What does HPF means?


Thanks :)

[jase]

USM - Unsharp Mask
HPF - Highpass Filter

Lovely image Martin. Thanks for sharing.

[multiweb]

Thanks Jase. Makes sense now.

[marc4darkskies]

Hooly dooly ... what an awesome shot Martin! Detail & colour wonderful!

:bowdown:

Cheers,
Marcus

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks everyone again...glad you liked it

and Jase...thanks for clearing up my acronym soup.

cheers
Martin