NGC6559, IC1274 and IC1275

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #1 09-07-2011, 02:17 AM

The Great Foot in Sagittarius!
M8, NGC6559, IC1274 and IC1275

This is first light using my new field flattener, given to me by Ponders, to celebrate my 4 years clear.

So this one is for you Paul.

Unfortunately my guide cam decided to go kaput tonight, so I had to rely just on the mounts tracking.
The data is a mix of 1 minute and 1.5 minute subs @ ISO 1600.
But I took 85 of them, to make a total of 1hr and 50min of exposure time.
Taken through the ED80 using the Canon 550D.
Stacked in DSS 3.3.3 and processed in CS3.

RickS (Rick) · #2 09-07-2011, 07:47 AM

Very nice, JJJ! I got more data last weekend to add to mine, but it's taking me a while to figure out how to process it all together nicely!

Cheers,
Rick.

bartman (Bart) · #3 09-07-2011, 07:58 AM

Nice shot(s) JJJ!
I like the golden appearance of the background stars.
Bartman

multiweb (Marc) · #4 09-07-2011, 08:04 AM

Superb shot. The flattener is working a treat. The only thing I'd do is push the blues a little to bring back the reflection nebs. Personal preference. Other than that one for the cool wall.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #5 09-07-2011, 08:58 AM

Thanks. Yes, I did kind of suck the blue out of the image when I was getting rid of that blue cast from the moon. I'll adjust that later on.

renormalised (Carl) · #6 09-07-2011, 03:55 PM

Nice shot, JJJ, considering the guider going south on you.

The flattener is working well, the FoV looks really good

Ross G · #7 09-07-2011, 08:21 PM

Great photos Jeanette.

Detailed, sharp and I like the subtle colours.

Pinpoint stars right to the corners. Are they full frame?

Thanks.

Ross.

Hagar (Doug) · #8 09-07-2011, 09:20 PM

The image has come up very nicely JJJ. How did DSS like 85 images, I bet it grunted a bit. Hope your guider is OK and just a driver problem.

Good luck with it.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #9 09-07-2011, 10:21 PM

The guider is kaput....worst luck. Reckon it was the camera that was causing my guiding trouble.
Guiding was fine this evening using a DMK21 with a GPUSB.
DSS rose to the challenge

Feels like old times though, when I was stuck with working with 20 second subs.

DavidU (Dave) · #10 09-07-2011, 10:26 PM

Fine images considering the guiding problems. The FF works well.

LucasB (Lucas) · #11 11-07-2011, 10:24 PM

I love wide field shots and yours is very nice!
Lucas
(fellow 550D user)

Lester · #12 12-07-2011, 07:58 AM

Very nice image JJ.

gregbradley · #13 12-07-2011, 06:03 PM

Gee whiz, 85 images , you had to work hard for that. Must've taken a while on the computer.

They are both really nice images and your images are really getting to the kick A stage.

Unfortunately I don't think you're gonna get that NGC6559 easily without Ha and long exposure. But you got some of it -the nice bits.

I find the lagoon area background is hard to process. Some images bring out the golden background stars with a hint of blue mist over the lagoon.
It has a tendency to look brown. Yours is in between so you've got some of that. It'd be nice to play around with in PS with the aim of reducing the slight green cast that will make it hard for you to get the gold!

I suggest you download Rogelio Andreo's HLVG free PS plugin and run that first. I think his tool is like Tony Hallas's green pixel gun which removes green noise. Green is kind of your enemy in astrophotography and needs to really be contained as its the image wrecker.

I'd say there is bit more left in this one to be brought out as above.

If you can achieve the golden background stars it would be quite an achievement and make a very good image really great.

Greg.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #14 12-07-2011, 06:33 PM

Thanks Greg.
I've been working on this on and off since posting.
I think the short subs have worked in my favour as far as star colour goes.

I'll be doing a proper job on this at Astrofest, this coming new moon. Long exposures and dark skies will make the world of difference. It's so dynamic this FOV. It needs to be treated much the same as M42 I feel. If I were just working on the "toes" I'd approach it differently. But the challenge is keeping M8 under control too.
Luckily I like a challenge eh. LOL

Stevec35 (Steve) · #15 13-07-2011, 10:48 AM

Very impressive shots. I would probably boost the saturation a bit but I like colorful images.

Cheers

Steve

Tom Davis (Tom) · #16 13-07-2011, 01:33 PM

Great shot! Nice round stars!

BTW, congrats on your 4 years clear! I am a gastroenterologist so I appreciate the challenge you have had.

All the best,
Tom

bokglob (Darrell) · #17 13-07-2011, 04:21 PM

Beaut colours nice FOV and well framed jj, any improvment on this later will be icing on the cake

I know where your coming from with regards to dark sky time, can't wait till astrofest! DESPERATE for some colour subs

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #18 13-07-2011, 05:05 PM

Thanks again for the kind words.
I'm going to do a rework of just the NGC/IC region tonight. See what I can come up with.

gregbradley · #19 13-07-2011, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Thanks Greg.
I've been working on this on and off since posting.
I think the short subs have worked in my favour as far as star colour goes.

I'll be doing a proper job on this at Astrofest, this coming new moon. Long exposures and dark skies will make the world of difference. It's so dynamic this FOV. It needs to be treated much the same as M42 I feel. If I were just working on the "toes" I'd approach it differently. But the challenge is keeping M8 under control too.
Luckily I like a challenge eh. LOL

Yes short subs are probably the way to go with DSLRs to prevent oversaturated and only white stars.

Yes the core is very bright. You could take some short and long exposures and blend them like you mention as if it were M42.

Greg.