Astrofest Helix

[peter_4059]

I've been working on this one for a few days - finally got it all stacked and processed. This was taken over three nights at Astrofest and comprises 12x5mins R, 12x5 mins G, 18x5 mins B, 24x5mins L, 8x10mins Ha and 11x10mins OIII - about 8.5 hrs all up.

I've had to resize and compress a lot to make it fit the post limit - might try to upload the full res version on Astrobin.

Comments and advice welcome, thanks for looking.

[whzzz28]

Looks great!
You got a fair bit of the outer regions in there.

[Zubenel]

Fabulous shot. Professional . Thanks.. :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

looks great Peter - well worth the effort!! Can you do another version using the HDR function in Pixinsight to see if you can tease out some internal detail?

[Garbz]

Very nice. An incredible amount of detail in that one.

[strongmanmike]

That's excellent Pete, one of your best ever I recon, this object is imaged a lot so it's good to nail a good'un :thumbsup:

Not sure about HDR but yes just a little more contrast in the inner ring would be good to see and a larger version would be worth it on this one mate.

Mike

[jjjnettie]

Definitely "The Best of Fest" . :D

[peter_4059]

Thanks for all the feedback. I've had another go at the Lum and toned down the Ha so now there is a bit more contrast in the centre. I've also stretched the outer bit some more - maybe too much.

Here's V2.

[h0ughy]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:great repro

[peter_4059]

Finally managed to upload to Astrobin...here's the full size/res version

http://astrob.in/18261/

[RB]

Great capture Peter, the repro looks terrific.
Well done.

RB

[RobF]

Beautiful work Peter. You must be happy with that.
I suspect you could tame a little more noise and pull out bit more detail with an extra couple of hours Ha with some of it incorporated into the lum. Possibly even some 15 or 20min subs?

Just a thought, if setup from home makes it possible without too much mucking around? I'm nit-picking at a fantatstic image though really. :ashamed:

[strongmanmike]

Yes, better size on Astro Bin, could probably tame the noise in the outer areas and it will be a really great image, already is, I'm not too worried about noise :)

Mike

[peter_4059]

Thanks again for the advice - how do you go about taming the noise without destroying the detail? Should I be using some type of mask (lum mask perhaps) in conjunction with noise reduction?

[peter_4059]

OK - here's repro 3 - noise reduction applied to the background sky.

[strongmanmike]

That looks good now.
You can use the colour range tool in PS to select just the dark noisy areas and hit 'em with the noise reduction.

Mike

[peter_4059]

Thanks for the advice Mike. It's a really steep learning curve with the mono camera and NB data.

One thing I've learned is there is no substitute for lots of data. This year I only imaged a few objects at AF. Having finally got plate solving working has been a major breakthrough and I've saved the sequence files so I might add more data including some SII next time I get to a dark site.

New version now on Astrobin
http://astrob.in/18261/B/

[Paul Haese]

I like the last one. Nice contrast, saturation and blending. Well done.

[allan gould]

Peter thats your best ever and a great reproduction. The colours and detail are absolutely spot on and the larger image certainly does this image justice. Great camera by the way thats gathered heaps of data and it really shows.

[gregbradley]

That's a very good Helix which as you know is very faint. To catch the 2nd ring of Ha is a feat in itself. Background looks a tad brown on my monitor but its subtle.

Greg.

[ozstronomer]

Peter Ver 3 look great, adding the Ha and OIII I think has really makes it pop

Well done:thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

Thanks for the comments Paul, Allan, Greg and Geoff. It's nice when all the time invested in capturing the subs results in an image you are happy with. It's also great to receive such good advice from the really experienced astrophotographers - thanks!

[RickS]

That's a great Helix, Peter! Nice to see the continuing improvement in each repro.

Cheers,
Rick.

[peter_4059]

Thanks Rick. Processing is an interesting exercise - I spend hours staring at the screen and then post an image that I think looks good - look at it the next day (or get some feedback here) and the issues become really evident. It is great to get so much feedback from such a wide group here. I've picked up some great tips about NB and LRGB processing in the last month.

[Ross G]

A great looking photo Peter.

Amazing detail and nice colour.

Ross.

[peter_4059]

Cheers Ross.

[marc4darkskies]

Whoa!! Missed this one. Very nice indeed Peter - your third repro nailed it! :thumbsup: Love the full res!

Cheers, Marcus