Helix over three nights

[Garyh]

Hi everyone,
Well this one is a bit of a experiment for me. Wanted to see what difference acquiring a heap of data over a few nights would have on a final image over my usual 1-2 hours worth..
Done over 3 nights at about 2 hours per night. Seeing was crap the first night but much better the following two nights. Only thing is that it was rather warmish with temps around 7-10 degrees during imaging which really didn`t help much with noise. Imaged with my 6" newt and modded 20D with 22 images at 6 min @ iso 800 and 63 images at 4-1/2 min @ iso 1600 making a total of around 7 hours.
Done some light deconvolution and then lots of stretching in PS etc to get my final image. Also done some minor local contrast enhancement as well as two lots of noise reduction while trying to keep as much detail as possible. Also done some color balancing on the neb itself as it just seemed to red?

Image has been cropped and is scaled to around 80% or original size...
I was surprised at the amount of noise still showing but I attribute that to the warmer nights. Looking at a image I did a month back on a frosty night for 2 hours, showed barely any at all...I need a cooled 20D..
But I must admit it is more detailed than my other post of it with 2 hours worth!..

Anyway here it is..and like always, all comments most welcome...
CS Gary

[iceman (Mike)]

Gorgeous clarity and colours, Gary. Really nice.

[Rick Petrie]

Definitely worth spending the extra time Gary. Really smooth and balanced.
Good stuff.

[drmorbius (Randall)]

Mate, that's beautiful... well done!

[Matty P (Matt)]

Lovely image Gary, the extra data has brought out a lot more detail. Very smooth and lovely colour.

Very well done.

[tornado33]

Nice and smooth, all that data really makes it look good
Scott

[Ric]

Well done Gary, lots of detail and nice colours.

Cheers

[bluescope]

There you go Gary, it's amazing what extra data does to images ay ! Well done.

[leon]

Ah Gary you have done a terrific job with this one, very nice indeed.

Leon

[Craig_L]

Great shot Gary. Did you use a filter? Craig

[Alchemy (Clive)]

a remarkable image for the 6 inch scope

im suprised you would get any noise with that many images.... did you use the same flats and darks for all the sets.... or did you do each set separately then average the 3 nights?

cheers clive.

[spearo (Frank)]

Very nice job there! love the colors!
the imaging time paid off without a doubt!

[RB (Andrew)]

Beautiful image Gary, almost 7 hours wow, excellent mate.
I really like the colour balance and image scale, perfect proportions IMO.

As always, looking forward to more from you.

[Garyh]

Thanks Mike, Rick, Randell, Matt, Scott, Ric, Steve, Leon, Craig, Clive, Frank and Andrew! very appreciated!
Craig, no filters used just my MPCC...but I wish I had a Ha one!

Clive, I stacked each individual night with its set of darks then average stacked them in PS..One night the camera orientation was slightly different which was a pain but it worked. But resulting in a bit of cropping from the full frame..I used the same flats for the lot..Maybe thats something I shall have to look at? as I only have 6 flat frames at the moment?

Cheers and it looks like clear skies shall be a while away now so might do some more experimenting..

[h0ughy (David)]

fantastic result for that dedication, well done Gary

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

That's a beautiful image Gary - well done!!! And that you got it with a 6" is very impressive - must give it a go myself one day!

Perhaps (if you'll forgive me for being picky) the center area could be a bit more teal coloured (?)

Cheers, Marcus