M20 Trifid Nebula from Astrofest

[troypiggo (Troy)]

I think every man and his dog had a go at imaging M20 at Astrofest. I was only there 2 nights, and the first night was plagued with equipment issues, and this ended up being the only DSO I captured. The only other thing I came away with was some star trails.

I think this is my best image to date, and first hard-core go at LRGB processing with the QSI583. I particularly wanted to bring out the dusty bits, and pay special attention to the noise. There are a couple of artifacts in there that I might play with later, but all in all I'm extremely happy.

In processing this, I've made a huge list of questions about LRGB image processing, so expect to be bombarded shortly.

Any and all comments and advice welcomed.

Repro (hopefully) incorporating H's suggestion added.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Fantastic, Troy. : )

Can you darken the background? On my MacBook Pro it looks a brown colour, which it most likely is, but, I think a little deepening of the background would introduce a little contrast that may pump the image just a touch more.

H

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Very nice indeed! You seem to have captured all the subtle colours and details.

Cheers

Steve

[multiweb (Marc)]

Wow! Very cool Troy. You got all the brown dust around it too. Kudos!

[batema (Mark)]

lovely shot and beautiful colours. Well done.

Mark

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

That's very well done. It really looks 3D with the Trifid emerging as a ball of dust just hanging there in space, all lit up internally by the newborn stars. Very nice.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Originally Posted by Octane

...
Can you darken the background? On my MacBook Pro it looks a brown colour, which it most likely is, but, I think a little deepening of the background would introduce a little contrast that may pump the image just a touch more.

Thanks mate. Actually, same (calibrated) monitor on my MacBook, but looking at it here at home in darker light than at the office, and you're right, it could do with some punch. I'll have a play with it and see what I can see

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Very neat and tidy. One for the pool room I reckon.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Thanks Nettie

I've just added a slight repro based on H's comment. Hope that's along the lines of what he was getting at. Any more and I risked clipping and/or losing dust.

[Paul Haese]

Well done. Lovely colour, sharp detail and round stars. Lots of things right Troy.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

The second version is even better. Great work.

[jase (Jason)]

Very well done Troy. I tend to agree its one of your best. LRGB operations can take some getting use to, but by the looks of this image you are well on your way. If you are looking to get a golden hue to your stars, red and green highlight work is the answer. Only need very small adjustments however. A few anchor points on the curve will stop any background shifts. Top work. Looking forward to more.

[ozstronomer (Geoff)]

Lovely image the second one shows a lot of dust..well done!

Did you process with Pixinsite?

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Thanks again guys.

Jase - thanks for the tip, will look into it. I think I get what you're saying.

Geoff - thanks mate. Yep, fully done in PI.

[Ross G]

So sharp and such rich colours.

A great photo Troy.


Thanks.


Ross.