M83

[LKD (Luke)]

Man that's an incredible image

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by LKD

Man that's an incredible image

Ta Luke. I expect when your new kit arrives you'll be a hard act to follow

[ahmed_haider (Ahmed)]

That is an amazing capture mate! so much detail visible, even the smaller/farther away galaxies surrounding M83 are visible in great detail. I'm in sydney too, can I come down to the shire to visit? I'd just like to see the place where this magic happens

[Maurice]

That's an excellent image of M83 Peter.
Congratulations.

cheers
Maurice

[RobF (Rob)]

Holy hole in a doughnut Batman! What a stunner of an image. Best M83 I can recall.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Been off IIS for a little while, so I missed this.

I'm torn Peter. On the one had I think it's a ravishing and very compelling beauty with wonderful definition. I.e. I like it very much! Nice work!

On the other hand, with my well known imaging contest judge's hat on, it looks over saturated ... or is that under saturated, doesn't respect the light, is too dark, is too contrasty, is too blue, is too (insert your favourite critique here) ... But, you'll be pleased to hear, I will refrain from doing a "very simple" tweak in PS to correct your mistakes!

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Been off IIS for a little while, so I missed this.

I'm torn Peter. On the one had I think it's a ravishing and very compelling beauty with wonderful definition. I.e. I like it very much! Nice work!

On the other hand, with my well known imaging contest judge's hat on, it looks over saturated ... or is that under saturated, doesn't respect the light, is too dark, is too contrasty, is too blue, is too (insert your favourite critique here) ... But, you'll be pleased to hear, I will refrain from doing a "very simple" tweak in PS to correct your mistakes!

Hey Marcus....

Well... I did say I went bonkers on the colour saturation...aka despite "hoon legislation" that tut-tut's at spinning the wheels on the Ferrari,
letting off some steam occasionally can be good for the soul.

That said I would not rate this "Las Vegas neon" version too highly if asked to judge it at the Malins....and lord knows, IIS is not the Malins.

That said, the data is there and just a few tweaks are all that is needed for
a more "respectful" version.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Looks great Peter. Beaute colours and details. Benchmark image for sure.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Looks great Peter. Beaute colours and details. Benchmark image for sure.

Thanks Marc. Too kind.

[matlud (Mathew)]

Another great image Peter 👍 What kind of seeing do you usually get at your site? Cheers, Mat

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by matlud

Another great image Peter 👍 What kind of seeing do you usually get at your site? Cheers, Mat

A good night for me is sub two arc sec seeing. Most nights are 3-4 arc sec.

That said, occasionally in winter, with fog forecast in the morning, you can get
very rare 1.5 arc second windows in the wee small hours.

[matlud (Mathew)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

A good night for me is sub two arc sec seeing. Most nights are 3-4 arc sec.

That said, occasionally in winter, with fog forecast in the morning, you can get
very rare 1.5 arc second windows in the wee small hours.

Thanks! That seems pretty similar seeing to what I get. What is your strategy for dealing with the 3-4 arcsec nights -do you cull a lot of subs from those nights, tighten it up with deconvolution?

[Ant0nio (Tony)]

They don't call it the "Thousand Ruby Galaxy" for nothing. Congratulations on this cracking image of M83 Peter. The colours are vibrant but not at the expense of fine detail & IMO it trumps this; https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190629.html


Cs,
Tony

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Ant0nio

They don't call it the "Thousand Ruby Galaxy" for nothing. Congratulations on this cracking image of M83 Peter. The colours are vibrant but not at the expense of fine detail & IMO it trumps this; https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190629.html


Cs,
Tony

Thanks... very kind of you.

Originally Posted by matlud

Thanks! That seems pretty similar seeing to what I get. What is your strategy for dealing with the 3-4 arcsec nights -do you cull a lot of subs from those nights, tighten it up with deconvolution?

Ta, I'm lucky as on the 3-4 arc sec nights I use a shorter FL scope for wider vistas, rather than chase narrow field subjects such as this.

I tend to reserve the RC16 for 2-2.5 arc sec seeing. I constantly re-assess focus and guiding to ensure FWHM's are as tight as possible as the night goes on and things cool.
Excellent raw data means no decon required

I'd also point out the Alluna 'scope is superbly engineered (hey, it's German) and really can deliver the advertised 5 micron spot sizes across a 35mm frame....
tracking and seeing is always the limitation.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Love the colours Peter nice work!