Hello,
This is worth a new post! Jase very kindly e-mailed me this evening, offering to have a go at processing the Messier 16 LRGB data I acquired from suburban Brisbane last night, 23rd August. Needles to say, I eagerly accepted, anxious to see what his masterful processing skills could produce; I submitted a sows ear and I was hoping that I might get at least a cotton purse, but wasn’t expecting a silk one let alone a golden one!
I provided Jase with the already reduced LRGB fits files (Darks, Flats, Aligned, Combined). The RGB files were acquired at low altitude in the West, with hazy cloud causing some auto guiding problems, and dipping into the light pollution dome of Brisbane. So, Jase didn’t have the original data to work with, just the stacked files I e-mailed to him. Also, I submitted RGB 1:1:1 as opposed to the SBIG recommended 1:1:1.6 ratios.
Well, well, well. My goodness me – what a difference!
Look at the subtle colours in those stars and the detail, smoothness and clarity of the processing. I guess it must have been a breeze for Jase having such small lumps of 765x510 pixel data to play with compared to his most recent, vast cosmic scapes. Thanks for this Jase, you have boosted my confidence no end but sadly, have doomed me to walk the path of LRGB imaging now; no one shot colour here after seeing your magic recipes at work!
Thanks also for sending back to me, the “working” psd file including layers – I’ll spend some time with this to learn how it is done.
Cheers
Dennis
PS – I have included my original to show the comparison.
PPS – Anyone wanna buy time on a new rent-a-scope in Brisbane! LOL!