This time, a bit over 6 hours of luminance data on this sparse region.
This is 85% of the full frame (removes the crack on my sensor and dithered/overlapped areas of low signal). In the full resolution image, there are a number of background galaxies visible.
I will add another few hours of luminance before tackling colour.
Processed quickly in PixInsight on the train to work this morning.
There is loads of cirrus in that area! At first, I thought I had dodgy flats, but, careful use of MMT has brought out incredible detail. Furthermore, I have lowered the contrast with HT and CT. That has reduced the overwhelming cirrus. When all the data is captured, I will emphasise the cirrus.
If you saw how noisy the original image was compared to the smooth result I am showing here, your jaw would drop. I am absolutey floored by how incredibly powerful MMT is! I spent a considerable amount of time learning its ins and outs by working on various previews. Best. Tool. Ever. That, and the HDRMT tool to bring out the dust lanes in the galaxy, where it was previously just a smear. Unreal.
I'll post the original stack when I get home tonight.
PI has several processes and features that qualify for "Best. Tool. Ever." awards but MMT and MLT certainly win prizes for noise reduction and sharpening Look forward to the before vs after comparison, H.
Great choice of targets and framing there H framing the two objects is very cool. The halo around NC 253 is rather rarely showcased in images of this galaxy but always amazes me as for so many years I thought it only in the grasp of deep and enhanced UK schmidt plates
Thank you, so much, everyone! I'm actually quite stoked at the response I've had to this so far. I was going to can it originally, but, once the stacked result worked out, I felt as I should keep going.
Mike, the first thing I did when I saw the halo was to go to Google and perform an image search on "ngc253 fsq" and "ngc253 wide field", but, I didn't see anything (immediately) which showed the halo. Even in narrow field images, it is quite faint! So, I was happy to see it in my image.
Russell, wow, that was ages ago! Now that I'm at higher latitudes, I hope to attempt it again. Maybe do an even better job than last time!
The weather up here is disgusting at the moment. I don't think it's going to clear any time soon, either. Looks like time for a new calibration library.
Anyway, as promised, here is the stacked result straight out of PixInsight. All that I've done is converted it to non-linear with an ASTF and saved to JPG. As you can see, there's a nasty gradient, a lot of noise, and, no detail in NGC253, to speak of! Careful application of PixInsight's powerful tools has revealed detail that I would never have imagined being there!
Mike, the first thing I did when I saw the halo was to go to Google and perform an image search on "ngc253 fsq" and "ngc253 wide field", but, I didn't see anything (immediately) which showed the halo. Even in narrow field images, it is quite faint!
