Sculpter Galaxy - NGC 253

Matty P (Matt) · #1 28-09-2008, 07:34 PM

Hi all,

I thought I would revisit the Sculpter Galaxy as I wasn't too happy with my last attempt at it. Everything was going well until I had to do a meridian flip in between the imaging session which interupted the flow of the session.

The temperature was quite warm most of the night increasing the thermal noise, which made post processing the data quite difficult.

Details are as follows:

Celestron 8" SCT f/6.3 on a EQ6 Pro
Guided with PHD, 70mm guidescope and DMK 21
15 x 5 minutes subs at ISO 800
Canon 450D (Unmodded)
Stacked in DSS and post processed in PS CS3

Enjoy and thanks for looking.

dcalleja · #2 28-09-2008, 07:50 PM

Matt
Very nice detail, nicely processed, no clipping. A good neutral background. Great job.

Kevnool (Kev) · #3 28-09-2008, 07:55 PM

Nice Matt i like it.....cheers Kev.

Craig_L · #4 28-09-2008, 08:20 PM

Really nice Matt. Lots of detail and nice colour. Trying to image this myself but am not too happy with my results so far,

gregbradley · #5 28-09-2008, 08:51 PM

Excellent image. A slight red background gradient that Gradient Xterminator would handle.

Greg.

Glenhuon (Bill) · #6 28-09-2008, 08:55 PM

Nice one Matty. Got some good detail in there.

Bill

winensky · #7 28-09-2008, 09:26 PM

That is a lovely image. Sharp and natural colours. Thanks.

Ric · #8 28-09-2008, 10:42 PM

Very nice Matt, you've captured some great detail on the disk.

Top stuff

Dennis · #9 29-09-2008, 03:03 AM

That is a very nice image Matt, I enjoyed having a peek and poke around the dust lanes of NGC253, one of my favourite galaxies. You’re doing some really good work – well done and keep it up!

Cheers

Dennis

iceman (Mike) · #10 29-09-2008, 04:44 AM

I agree with Greg about the red cast, but the detail in the dust lanes is very nice. Top work.

Also, are you taking darks and flats?

Garyh · #11 29-09-2008, 07:50 AM

Looks good Matt!

Like what Mike mentions, looks like some vignetting showing making the outer edges darker, so some flat field shots needed? Other than that looks very nice indeed..
cheers Gary

Matty P (Matt) · #12 29-09-2008, 12:35 PM

Thankyou everyone for your words of encouragement.

I agree that there is a slight red gradient. So I have neutralised it in PS. It looks much better now IMHO.

Gary, I used all calibration frames for this image, so I am not sure what is causing the slight vignetting. Could be from the brightness of the Galaxy?

Here is the reprocess.

iceman (Mike) · #13 29-09-2008, 12:37 PM

Nice!
But the vignetting is still there. Perhaps there's something wrong with your flats?

Matty P (Matt) · #14 29-09-2008, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Nice!
But the vignetting is still there. Perhaps there's something wrong with your flats?

I'm not sure what could be wrong with my flats.

Here is the master flat that I used.

Matty P (Matt) · #15 29-09-2008, 10:51 PM

OK, I had another look at my image and I still wasn't happy with it. So I attempted to reprocess it for a third time. I think I have got it right this time.

Let me know what you think.

Jen · #16 29-09-2008, 11:27 PM

Very nice Matt

jase (Jason) · #17 30-09-2008, 02:25 AM

The last post is on the money. Lovely details and rich colours. Well done.

RB (Andrew) · #18 30-09-2008, 07:39 AM

I agree with Jase.
Matt that third attempt is great.
Glad you worked it out.

Well done.

What did you change in your routine?

sjastro · #19 30-09-2008, 07:43 AM

Looks good Matt.

Steven

Matty P (Matt) · #20 30-09-2008, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

I agree with Jase.
Matt that third attempt is great.
Glad you worked it out.

Well done.

What did you change in your routine?

Andrew,

What I did was subtract the master flat again to get rid of the horrible vignetting. I then increased the detail by using a high pass filter layer and then slightly blurred it with a dust & scratches layer.

That did the trick.

Thanks everyone.