Back in business - NGC 6744

[marc4darkskies]

Finally, after 6 weeks, I got my mount back from Japan just in time to snap this quick 10.5hr exposure of NGC 6744 :). I was dogged by high cloud during the red and blue subs and seeing was a pretty average 3-4 arcsecs the whole time - thank goodness for decon! The detail's not bad but I'd kill for a few more nights of 1.5 arcsec seeing!

So, following on from Mike's great rendition, here is my somewhat narrower view. As usual, I've cropped for effect to a 43x32 arcmin FOV.

Small:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/127465806/large

Large:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/127465806/original

Hope you like it!

Cheers, Marcus

[TheAstroGuy]

MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!

Really good colours and what a wonderful sight, what a great looking Galaxy that one is, it deserves more than an NGC number.

Regards

Shane

[multiweb]

Very vibrant colors. Beautiful. :thumbsup:

[renormalised]

Great shot, Marcus!!. The large view is magnificant....you can see just how star like the nucleus of the galaxy is in this shot. And the background galaxies...all details of interest:):)

Good job:)

[gregbradley]

Overall a very good image. I can see the seeing must have been worse or as you say high cloud with the blues blurrring the blue channel. A bit of bleeding of blue or blue halos on some stars.

I like the colour balance you've achieved on the galaxy, like Mikes. Very pleasing.

A stunning galaxy this one. I am glad its a southern object. I've been imaging this one as well and it has been interrupted a few times now by cloud coming over.

Greg.

[jjjnettie]

Super work Marcus. Just lovely.

[Alchemy]

Yes, at only 10.5 hours it is a bit of a quickie....... Oh well I guess that will just have to do

Not to bad, another 30 or so hours might improve it


Just kidding , it looks good.

Clive

[strongmanmike]

Well, that's a great shot of this galaxy, your extra focal length, AO and decon have delivered the goods as far as resolution around the inner regions goes, looks impresive. A slight suggestion, it looks a bit clipped in the outer regions :shrug: but it is nice to see you didn't remove all the noise :P :thumbsup:...wonder if you will get hammered for it :rolleyes: :lol:.

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Nicely done Marcus.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Being off the air must be catchy.....after 6 years of faithful service, my Obs laptop gave up the ghost. :doh: ... just when the weather hasn't been too bad

[Octane]

Marcus,

Wow! Incredible detail. Love it!

Minor critique; I believe you have a magenta cast over the image -- this is most prominently visible in the stars closest to the edge of the image at the top. Or, it may just be an artifact of DDP.

Other than that, sensational!

H

[RobF]

Stunning. Wonderful detail coming out in the central dust lanes, and love the colours you've obtained.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Nice image Marcus - welcome back! Great detail and colour! On my old monitor the outer arms seem to have some blue colour noise, but no-one else has really mentioned it - perhaps it's time to upgrade to a better monitor!?!

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Shane. Yes, it's a pretty one for sure. Need lots of data to do it justice though and another 10 or 20 hours wouldn't go astray!



Cheers Marc.



Thanls Carl. Glad you liked it! In spite of the conditions, the detail & depth isn't bad. 5hrs of lum is the most I've ever done. Hmmm ... I think I feel like some exposure fever coming on, I think I'll go for 10 hrs of Lum next time! :P



Thanks Greg. Yes, the cloud decreased the S/N enough to make colour processing very difficult - transparency was crap. The residual colour blotching is acceptable at 100% zoom but if you go to 200% and beyond you'll notice (just like Mike's version). It will print well though and a bit more tinkering should take care of it.



Thanks a lot jj!!



Cheers Clive - yeah, 10.5 hrs is just sheer laziness, I know - promise to do better next time :P;)



Cheers mate - pretty pleased with the detail but would have preferred Leo Trio seeing for sure!! As you'd know you need to be very careful removing "noise" from galaxy shots ... some of that noise is real detail ... cf the Rob Gendler and Daniel Verschatse (Antilhue Chile) versions to see. The histogram is steep but not clipped - wanted to keep the faint stars and minimise the noise without noise reduction. Other than smoothing the colour layer, no noise reduction was done!



Thanks Peter - commiserations on your equipment woes - sucks doesn't it?! :mad2:



Cheers H - appreciate that! Buuuuut ... no magenta cast visible on my monitor (calibrated Eizo). A little colour blotching in the outer arms when you zoom in though ... need that extra 10-20 hours of data :D



Thanks a lot Rob - my Lum had some nice detail in it thanks to some MSDLBing. It was a hard processing slog though and, as always, that's a result of less than perfect data (colour in this case). Perserverance paid off though.



Thanks David. Yes, you're right about the colour noise - I will certainly be fiddling with it in the coming days to make it less noticeable (at 200% zoom!!!)

[jase]

Excellent work Marcus. Sublime in fact. Noise? Whats that? You've controlled it well should it have ever existed with 10.5hr's worth. A Saturated, yet natural feel to it. Good processing. Will be sure to come back and check it out a few times over the coming days. Well done.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot Jase - appreciate that! I've been processing this one for the last few days. I'll take a rest now and review it in a few days to see what other tinkering I can do. :)

[richardo]

Yes top job indeed Marcus!
This is a hard galaxy for sure... I like the way you've handled things...
This amount of exposure time is well justified to bring out this lovely objects characteristics.

Looks like your mount and AO's working well together!

I still need some more colour and lum to add to my version.... you & Mike have set the standard and won't post till/ if I get enough.
damn this weather.

Rich

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Rich - good luck with your version! It was tough to process, but galaxies usually are. And no matter how much data you get you'll still need more! :)

[Paul Haese]

Huge image, most of which I really like. So many nice things to see in the image. Nice detail in the inner arms. If anything the blue stars appear a little too blue to me. However I really like the image. Sometimes a little noise is nice.

[CoolhandJo]

Wow. Worth the wait..

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Paul. Ah if only the gods had smiled on me with better transparancy. But I'm pretty happy with the colour and noise control I've achieved (so far).



Thanks a lot Paul! Glad you liked it!

[Tom Davis]

Wonderful image! Nice detail!

Tom

[Garyh]

Another beauty Marcus! Colors quiet saturated but I like galaxy images like that!
cheers Gary

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Tom!



Cheers Gary, glad you liked it! Yes, it's saturated, but no more so than many other renditions I've seen IMO - look at Martin Pugh's version for example.

[marco]

Great shot Marcus! I like it!

Marco

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Marco! :)

[marc4darkskies]

Not a repro, just some additional processing to address some minor issues. Mainly a reduction in the blue channel bleeding around stars (because of the high clouds and relatively poor seeing when shooting the blue channel) and a couple other subtle improvements to the galaxy itself. Full res here (http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/127465806/original).

[strongmanmike]

Awww com'on Marcus who you trin ta kid, that's a repro fair and square, aaah you have the bug... the addiction, it's contageous you know :scared: ;) :lol:

Very nice job :thumbsup:

Mike

[Garyh]

ohh yeah, even better Marcus! I love those colors ex into the core!
really nice detail considering cloud and not too good seeing!

[gregbradley]

Brilliant! That's a super image Marcus.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Nah, but I do admit to being a processaholic. :P Cheers Mike :)



Thanks Gary - I'm very happy with it now. It's surprising just how important the final tweaking is to the sucess of an image.



Thanks Greg. It pays to take time off from an image too - going back with a fresh pair of eyes helps highlight deficiencies.

[RB]

What a beautiful shot Marcus.
Love looking straight into the centre of the galaxy in your full res version on my Dell 2408.

Quite hypnotic !

:thumbsup: