Great shot. I noticed that you primarily took RGB subs instead of L. My understanding was that for LRGB images L channel should contain far more details because, without colour filters, L channel was about 2-3 times more sensitive. Usually I would do at least 1(L):1(R+G+B), even much more L than RGB total. My 2 cents. John
Peter,
Lovely image of M83 and Starfield colour looks great too
Well done !!
I kind of agree with John , for broadband imaging , LRGB will ( in most cases ) provide a better result with more fine detail than just RGB, more so under darker skies too. My processing software Startools even creates a Synthetic Luminance from the RGB data to add to the raw Luminance data to provide more image fidelity.
I’ve just started my M83 project under my B8 super heavy light polluted Sydney as M83 is going to hang around for quite a few months.
For broadband imaging during New Moon in Sydney, I’m limited to 30 sec subs with my 8”f5 Carbon Newt ( FL 1050mm ) and ZWO2600MM ( -10C Gain 0 )
I’ve only gathered a tiny bit of data so far ( about an hour or so of Luminance only )
I will need as a minimum, at least 3 to 4 hours of Luminance and 2 or 3 hours each of RGB ( minimum 12 hours ) to combat the horrible LP gradient.
Attached is my image of M83 with 1 hour of Luminance 30 sec subs with limited processing , mainly gradient removal , some sharpening and denoise and also an image of just an AutoDev screen stretch to show gradients. Apart from the noisy image due to lack of data SNR , the minimal Luminance data ( just over an hour ) did provide some half decent detail. If I used 1 hour of Red or 1hour of Green or 1 hour of Blue , it definitely would not compete with Luminance with respect to fine detail.
It would be nice to see your image with say 6 hours of Luminance added , I think you would expose more of the outer arms plus core region.
Anyway you maybe happy just to capture RGB due to time restrictions or other personal reasons ??
I initially started with just RGB for broadband and only early last year changed that to LRGB and now it’s mostly Ha LRGB.
