M77 (NGC 1068) and NGC 1055

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #1 26-12-2011, 04:42 PM

Well, Santa was nice to me this year! He gave me one measly night (on the 25th no less) to gather just enough colour data to finish my first project in 7 months!!

This pair isn't imaged very often but it should be. It's understated beauty is undeniable. My goals with this image were simple: Good composition (always!), natural yet reasonably vibrant galaxy and star colours and depth to show the faint out arms of M77 and the box shaped halo around NGC 1055. I also left a bit of noise for that slightly grainy look.

Hopefully my processing skills aren't tooooo rusty!

Hope you like it!

Small:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/140542855/large

Large: Use <cntrl -> to zoom out & <cntrl +> to zoom in
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/140542855/original

Cheers, Marcus

Tilt (Michael) · #2 26-12-2011, 04:54 PM

Well Marcus, you have yourself a fine image here. The background is very even revealing the detail in the galaxies nicely. Your processing skills are not rusty at all, I gather you've been down the data processing path enough to not forget

John Hothersall · #3 26-12-2011, 05:05 PM

That is very impressive as I love 1055 but seldom imaged and as a pair with M77 with good halo. Well done.

John.

naskies (Dave) · #4 26-12-2011, 05:16 PM

Wow, your large version looks amazing on my 30" monitor. Thanks for sharing

renormalised (Carl) · #5 26-12-2011, 05:19 PM

Nicely done, Marcus!!

The details in both are excellent.

Plenty of fuzzies in the background as well.

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #6 26-12-2011, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tilt

Well Marcus, you have yourself a fine image here. The background is very even revealing the detail in the galaxies nicely. Your processing skills are not rusty at all, I gather you've been down the data processing path enough to not forget

Thanks Michael - yeah a bit like riding a bike I suppose, but I did scratch my head a couple of times!

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Hothersall

That is very impressive as I love 1055 but seldom imaged and as a pair with M77 with good halo. Well done.

John.

Cheers John. I was surprised there were so few renditions out there - they are a beautiful duo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by naskies

Wow, your large version looks amazing on my 30" monitor. Thanks for sharing

A 30" monitor eh?

... hmmmm. Maybe next Christmas!

.

Glad you liked it Dave!

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

Nicely done, Marcus!!

The details in both are excellent.

Plenty of fuzzies in the background as well.

Thanks Carl. I lucked out again with seeing. Average FWHM was around 1.8 arcsec for the luminance.

allan gould · #7 26-12-2011, 06:09 PM

Marcus, one exceptional image as usual. Love the composition and colour of the two galaxies and it was worth the wait to finish this image before the new year.

renormalised (Carl) · #8 26-12-2011, 06:16 PM

That's pretty good seeing, Marcus. A good run of luck with the conditions

Hey...30" monitor....you do know there are two Xmases a year....our one and the Orthodox Xmas on Jan 6

Still time!!!!.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #9 26-12-2011, 09:22 PM

Very impressive, I like the composition very much. And it's fascinating how there are several background galaxies visible through the arms of M77 too.

RobF (Rob) · #10 26-12-2011, 09:25 PM

Really nice Marcus. I'm going back for 2nds now at hi-res!

strongmanmike (Michael) · #11 26-12-2011, 09:47 PM

Niiice work mate, great shot, lovely contrasting pair huh?

Yes, although Paul H will probably disagree, I like the level of "noise" left in the image, makes it look quite natural

I think I really need a larger monitor to see it best though

Welcome back

Mike

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #12 26-12-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

That's pretty good seeing, Marcus. A good run of luck with the conditions

Hey...30" monitor....you do know there are two Xmases a year....our one and the Orthodox Xmas on Jan 6

Still time!!!!.

Lucky with the seeing for sure but even luckier to get a cloudless night!!!

Jan 6? ... hmmmm

... Jan 6? ......... Hey!!! that's my birthday!! Almost forgot!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Very impressive, I like the composition very much. And it's fascinating how there are several background galaxies visible through the arms of M77 too.

Cheers Rolf - yes, cropped it to get it looking just right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Really nice Marcus. I'm going back for 2nds now at hi-res!

Glad you liked it Rob!

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Niiice work mate, great shot, lovely contrasting pair huh?

Yes, although Paul H will probably disagree, I like the level of "noise" left in the image, makes it look quite natural

I think I really need a larger monitor to see it best though

Welcome back

Mike

Cheers mate! Funny how a bit of hiss in the background has that effect. IMO if you try to get rid of all the noise you will almost certainly end up removing some real information - background galaxies, faint stars and even globs around galaxies.

Mmmyeeessss ... I wonder if eizo makes a 30"

midnight (Darrin) · #13 27-12-2011, 01:38 AM

I really enjoyed looking at this Marcus!

Not only have you captured a beautiful field but the more distant galaxies help complement this image which gives it some nice depth.

Beautiful.

Hope you get more clear skies in 2012!

Darrin...

cybereye (Mario) · #14 27-12-2011, 07:07 AM

Marcus,

Beautiful, just beautiful!

Cheers,
Mario

strongmanmike (Michael) · #15 27-12-2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Mmmyeeessss ... I wonder if eizo makes a 30"

Mmmmyeeeesssss..I hear ya....

Definitely not a criticism but purely out of curiosity I stretched your image and there is some mottled patchy stuff all over the image, it's hard to tell how much is real Cirrus and what might be an artifact of the gradient removal or other as there are large dark rings around the bright stars, what do you recon? What does the untouched Lum look like stretched?

Again great shot

Mike

mill (Martin) · #16 27-12-2011, 12:34 PM

That is a amazing shot Marcus

Very nice colors and sharpness, might have a try at them myself sometime

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #17 27-12-2011, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnight

I really enjoyed looking at this Marcus!

Not only have you captured a beautiful field but the more distant galaxies help complement this image which gives it some nice depth.

Beautiful.

Hope you get more clear skies in 2012!

Darrin...

Cheers Darrin - surely 2012 has gotta be better than '11 ... right?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybereye

Marcus,

Beautiful, just beautiful!

Cheers,
Mario

Hi Mario!! Thanks for that mate!

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Mmmmyeeeesssss..I hear ya....

Definitely not a criticism but purely out of curiosity I stretched your image and there is some mottled patchy stuff all over the image, it's hard to tell how much is real Cirrus and what might be an artifact of the gradient removal or other as there are large dark rings around the bright stars, what do you recon? What does the untouched Lum look like stretched?

Again great shot http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/thumbsup.gif

Mike

Hmmmmmyeeeeesssss ... hyper-stretching eh??

Even a Gendler image can't stand up to that kind of treatment!!

(yes, I've tried

)

The hyper stretched lum is pretty clean. However there are two short linear features running from 8 to 2 o'clock at the 11 o'clock position above M77 that I think might be real (ie present after combining 18 subs from both sides of the meridian).

As it happens the trade-off for using the extender is vignetting and undiagnosed additional gradients that appear in the RGB (predominantly in the vignetted zone) - so gradient removal was applied to the background. If I want to go reeeeally deep I'd use the native FL which is as clean as a whistle. But then I'd also need darker skies and longer subs or a faster scope to do that reliably. Yes, you have to be (more) careful using shadow/highlight tool to avoid dark halos around bright stars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mill

That is a amazing shot Marcushttp://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....eyepopping.gif
Very nice colors and sharpness, might have a try at them myself sometime

Thanks a lot Martin. Yep give 'em a go ... there are a lot of other objects that aren't really "main stream" that are definitely worth a look!

TheDecepticon · #18 27-12-2011, 05:10 PM

Excellent shot, Marcus, beautifully displayed and captured.

Paul Haese · #19 27-12-2011, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Niiice work mate, great shot, lovely contrasting pair huh?

Yes, although Paul H will probably disagree, I like the level of "noise" left in the image, makes it look quite natural

LOL, nah not this time.

I really like this image. Love the colour, the noise is just pure speckle and that makes for a sharper appearance. Well done Marcus. Certainly a really cool subject and interesting composition.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #20 27-12-2011, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Hmmmmmyeeeeesssss ... hyper-stretching eh??

Even a Gendler image can't stand up to that kind of treatment!!

(yes, I've tried

)

No issue there, completely agree, I only tried on your iamge becasue I could see faint features in the background

Quote:

The hyper stretched lum is pretty clean. However there are two short linear features running from 8 to 2 o'clock at the 11 o'clock position above M77 that I think might be real (ie present after combining 18 subs from both sides of the meridian).

Yes I noticed those, they were what caught my attention in the first place, so I wonder what they are..?

Quote:

Yes, you have to be (more) careful using shadow/highlight tool to avoid dark halos around bright stars.

Hey don't worry about it, the image looks fine as presented and that's the way it should be appreciated