[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Great shots Ray. 1398 as mentioned by others is veey spectacular. 7424 is really a bit beyond the reach of amatuer scopes but you have done well for such a difficult galaxy.

Greg.

Thanks very much Greg. agree the 7424 is not too brilliant, but the problem was a lack of good data. I only had a couple of hours at about 2 arcsec and had to use some with up to 3 arcsec to get the noise down a bit. But I like the galaxy and will try again next year if possible.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Never cease to amaze Ray. I saw that galaxy in Adam Block's shot but I reckon yours is better. The other spiral is just the icing on the cake. When I eventually get to start shooting galaxies I'll be talking to you. You're the man!

Very generous Comments Marc and much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Only just saw these Ray. Very nice indeed, particularly NGC 1398.

Cheers

Steve

thanks very much Steve.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

1398 is my pick. The detail is nice and sharp and the field of view presented around the outside is good too. Nice work Ray.

Thank you Paul - I was pleased with the surrounding field.

Originally Posted by clive milne

It is good to see you imaging again Ray, and as is typical from you, your latest images are pleasing to the eye.

I'll be careful to qualify the following comments as a matter of personal preference rather than criticism. (which would be undeserved)
The 7424 image might be better with a little less decon. Some of the stars show a slight dark donut effect, and appear to have lost their gausian intensity profile. It is difficult to make an objective assessment of the colour balance viewing these on my phone (S4) but I am inclined to think that pulling the colour saturation back a touch might add to the realism of both images. 7424 looks a little brown/purple to me.

anyway, two very good shots of some challenging targets.
As always, it is good to see the results of your work and I look forward to seeing more.

best

c

Thanks for the thoughtful post Clive. I have revisited the 7424 data but to date have some difficulty in getting anything better out of the limited resolution subs - if I wind back the deconvolution too far, a fair bit of structure fades as well. However, I will persevere, since I think I may possibly have found a way to get around at least part of the problem. The star profiles are compressed at the top end as a byproduct of the stretching process - I have tried masking to partially retain the original profiles, but didn't like the side effects, so now just accept that the stars will have flattened profiles. However, agree that overuse of deconvolution has added it's own distinctive distortion in this image.

I take the point on colour and saturation and will redo.

Will post some revised images after Christmas.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Excellent Ray! 1398 is definitely my favorite!

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus - appreciated.

Regards Ray