The great snowflake

[Vasya Pupkin (Pupkin)]

Here are constellations, that form the great sky snowflake. For us, people from Northern Hemisphere, it is a symbol of Winter (for you, of Summer). Unfortunately, I can't understand, what should I do to make bright stars more findable (I am talking about Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, Castor/Pollux and Betelgeuse).
Of course, such view of this snowflake is strange for you, but only upset it to throw Capella to the horizon.
Unfortunately, I live in Moscow (Russia), so I have great light pollution.

Technical comments:
Canon EOS 1100D,EF-S 18-55mm
ISO1600
Exposure 10sec*4images, F/5.6

Link to the better resolution variant: http://www.astrobin.com/32882/

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

Hi Vasya,

There is actually quite a lot of detail in the image including Orion, Jupiter and Pleiades. It's an interesting wide field image from the northern hemisphere.

Are you currently doing any post processing using photo editing software? You should be able to bring out even more detail and reduce the effect of light pollution by adjusting the curves and levels.

Cheers,
Mark

[Vasya Pupkin (Pupkin)]

Thanks, Mark.
You see, I have extra objects (houses) of a picture, so, I won't be able to process it in DSS. I wanted to make a full panorama (with Sirius), but I have no places, where I could do its photo without extra objects. So, I decided not to process images at all and make a panorama with single images.
Of course, if this problem doesn't exist, I would take more than one image.
By the way, maybe, you know, how can I explain DSS that some part of an image it mustn't process?

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

Hi Vasya,

Adjusting the curves and levels can be done in normal image editing software (e.g. Photoshop, Paint.NET, GIMP etc) and can be done independently of stacking in DSS or Registax.

In your case, you can simply load your final images into any of these editing programs and adjust the curves and levels. It doesn't matter if there are other objects in the picture. This will bring out more faint details and reduce the effect of light pollution.

There is alot of information on the forum and internet on post-processing using curves and levels. This is a very popular and benefical technique for processing astronomy pictures.

As a quick example, I have taken your image and adjusted the curves and levels in Paint.NET.

Cheers,
Mark