(LAT) Process

[TheAstroGuy (Shane Ross)]

(LAT) or the Lagoon & Trifid is a very hard wide field area to process.

I officially stomp my foot at this downright too hard to process nightmare!!!

Firstly my Equinox needs a coma corrector or F.F. on it big time!!, this image is cropped significantly and yet coma is still present.

Secondly, choosing to enhance milky way regions, nebula , dark lanes etc makes for a masking and time consuming conundrum of EPIC proportions.

In the end i just got sick of trying to process this image and have posted it, but not happy at all with this one.

Back to the drawing board and a 4" focuser is on the cards to match the 11002 chip i would suggest.

Image is here: http://www.theastroguy.com.au/images/LAT.jpg

Kind Regards

Shane

[soundworthy (Michael)]

don't be too hard on yourself shane, to a newb like me it looks great.
michael

[multiweb (Marc)]

Looks great to me too. The details and colors are awesome. Very deep field I don't think it's a coma problem. Some areas are very sharp then others not and it's not consitent from center to edges like coma would show.

[gregbradley]

You're being too hard on yourself that is a very nice image.

I agree with Marc. Tilt, something is bending slightly with your rig. Are you using screw connectors for your STL or the nosepiece?

Scrap the nosepiece as its gonna vignette (2 inches is way small for a 35mm sized chip) and get yourself a nice screw on adapter at the correct distance from your flattener. For STL and above size you need 3.5 inch or above focusers or perhaps a 3 inch. A 3inch Wynne Corrector would be the go for a Newt and adapters to suit.

Ashley at Precise Parts in Miami is the man. He's not cheap but his adapters are the best.

STL and above chips require large focusers, large openings, large correctors/field flatteners and there is no getting around it. A 2.7 inch focuser is going to cause trouble and you'll waste money trying to solve something that isn't going to solve. Been there, done that. Get everything large and you'll win.

Greg.

[TheAstroGuy (Shane Ross)]

Thanks guys,

Marc and greg you are both spot on i reckon. Firstly yup the consistency is out because of the process in that some areas are sharpened and others not, so that was just processing laziness
I thing you are right about the adapter too Greg, i have a terrible nosepeice that i had made up for my Atik 11002 in order to accomodate a standard 2" focuser, it was designed for 3" and above so this is probably the bending issue for sure creating warping.

Kind Regards

shane

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

I agree with what the boys have suggested, tilt and flex can be a nightmare, robust focusers, solid rigid connectors and quality multi set screw compression rings are very valuable. (Mike stating the obvious )

I also agree, overall the image is processed nicely

Mike.

[RobF (Rob)]

Looks like a wonderful field of view to me. Great work!

[Paul Haese]

Shane, the only thing with this image is the colour. I reckon that the star field should have lots of orange stars in it. The colour on these stars is under saturated in my opinion. Colour aside this is a nice image. Detail is great and there is a nice composition with NGC6559 included in the scene.

I know exactly how frustrating tilt and flexure can be with regard to focusors and getting stars right. You will get it sorted and when you do you will be gratified to know you sorted it yourself.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Yes, processing (well) is hard, but you've done an admirable job here Shane - you should be very pleased with your efforts! Maybe a tad undersaturated as Paul says, but it's a nice image to look at!

Cheers, Marcus

[TheAstroGuy (Shane Ross)]

Thanks guys,

It's hilarious because i usually go overboard with colour as for some reason my camera just really picks up colour well and i rarely have to saturate much, but this time i undersaturated the image intentionally because of my tendancy for colour overkill and i came up trumps i am sure i'll find a happy medium one of these days.

Kindest regards

Shane

[luigi]

Hi!

First of all I really like the image, the field of view is fantastic, I also like the colors and the exposure. It does feel a little overprocessed to me but I usually have even worst results than you.
I really like it and I don't think that the nits are enough this is a keeper.