M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

JD2439975 (Justin) · #1 06-06-2010, 01:43 PM

Finally our skies have begun to clear...YAY!!

I'm about as far north as you can get in Oz & this little beauty is still only 30 deg above the horizon at best, so not a frequently imaged galaxy.
Due to average conditions, an annoying inability to get my scope dialed in & a lazy mans approach to post-processing this is no award winner...but I'll share it with you anyway.

Shot through a narrow 1hr window between trees...3hrs 26mins of mostly 5min, ISO400 subs with a few older 3min ones thrown in for luck, darks, no flats(when my EL panel finally arrives

).
Would like to get some more hours on this one for sure.

Justin.

Octane (Humayun) · #2 06-06-2010, 01:48 PM

Justin,

Wow, well done!

Mate, there is a lot more data in there than you would believe.

Have you tried playing with subtle curves in Photoshop?

H

multiweb (Marc) · #3 06-06-2010, 01:57 PM

Wow! That's great. Terrific data. Love the colors. As H said you can push that even more. Top shot.

JD2439975 (Justin) · #4 06-06-2010, 02:00 PM

Had a bit of a play with basic curves H but as I said, I'm a lazy bugger.

I really need to sit down & go through some tutorials & practice a whole lot more.

multiweb (Marc) · #5 06-06-2010, 02:06 PM

Your data is black clipped so you lost a fair bit of it. Here's a very basic stretch and you can see the abundance of hidden details already in there.

lesbehrens (Les) · #6 06-06-2010, 05:11 PM

very good.

i tried imaging this last night but i bumped the focuser and i had lot of trouble the rest of the night to get it correct.

TrevorW · #7 06-06-2010, 05:41 PM

Plenty of data well done just needs some processing work as suggested

Bassnut (Fred) · #8 06-06-2010, 05:47 PM

Yes, top work Justin, especially with such a low target, but your curve work is hiding detail, as Marc says.

Had a tweak myself, you could do much better with a bit of noise reduction with layer masking

.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #9 06-06-2010, 06:38 PM

Just lovely Justin!!

allan gould · #10 06-06-2010, 06:49 PM

To quote those Northers we should say " that's a really nice shot of one of our famous SOUTHERN galaxies". Really like the detail that you have captured.

RobF (Rob) · #11 06-06-2010, 06:53 PM

Great work - good to see you making the most of those northern objects that are available!

JD2439975 (Justin) · #12 07-06-2010, 02:30 PM

Thankyou all for the comments, glad you liked it.

Well it seems I really need to pull my finger out & improve my processing skills, not much point getting half decent data & not doing the most with it.

Attached is an uncropped, basic processed image straight from DSS...eww look at that murk, just know I lost some of the tidal arm detail in that rubbish.
Tried using Starwipe to remove the vignetting gradient & it certainly helped but there's only so much that I can do without dedicated flats.

All good fun though.

multiweb (Marc) · #13 07-06-2010, 05:56 PM

Yep - you'll need to star doing flats to get the most out of your data. Big difference and well worth the effort.

RobF (Rob) · #14 07-06-2010, 09:09 PM

For a Newt, where you don't have to be obsessive about nuking dust bunnies, you should still be able to get a decent result in the future if you can recreate the angle you had the camera on the scope (and focus point of course).

Try some Tshirt dusk or dawn flats and see how you go? Nothing to lose, plenty to gain on such decent data...

Harryianpage · #15 08-06-2010, 05:36 AM

Hi

Thats a very nice m51 with lots of colour

You can get rid of the gradients with pixinsight or gradx in photoshop

I ran it through pixinsight, hope you don't mind

Harry

Hagar (Doug) · #16 08-06-2010, 08:35 AM

Very Nice Justin. Not a target I can see from my location so great to see someone image it from Oz.

Well done.

JD2439975 (Justin) · #17 08-06-2010, 02:02 PM

Yeah Rob looks like I might have to try the T-shirt routine for the moment.
I ordered a EL panel from Elec2go quite a while ago but there seems to be a bit of a delay, have to get onto that & put a rocket up em I guess.

Thanks Harry, don't mind at all & good to see it without gradient.
Hear a lot of good stuff about GradX but all(HA HA) my money is going towards a Moonlite focuser at the moment...Damn this astro lark is a money pit, anyone know if there's a bottom to it.

Doug I'm hoping to capture a few more northern delights not so often seen, in this part of the world at least.
From my yard north isn't the best aspect from all the trees (I'd get happy with a chainsaw but don't have the rights), had a go at M101 but it's just in the top branches & guiding was a joke.
Finding an open , safe spot to be out on your own with so many thousands of dollars worth of equipment can be a bit difficult some times.
There's a lovely open area just down the road but the local hoons where prepared to drive thier cars through a chain link fence just to do some paddock work...not very safe me thinks.

Once again thanks to all for your comments, it's a long road that gets a bit steep at times but at least I seem to be heading in the right direction.

JD