Lagoon Nebula

bluescope · #1 02-05-2008, 05:08 PM

Here's my latest image of M8. The seeing was pretty awful as there was loads of moisture in the air, by the end of the session ( 3.30am ) the roof of my observatory was literally dripping with dew as I rolled it shut and the scope was soaked. Thankfully my curtain kept things relatively cosy in the computer area.

Total exposure 1 hour ..... 15x4mins with ST2000XCM ... 10inch Newt setup.

Still using 1.25 filters and no MPCC .... waiting for IDAS 2" LPS to arrive.

jase (Jason) · #2 02-05-2008, 05:29 PM

Good effort Steve. How are you stretching the data? You've got some severe clipping in all channels, but predominately in the green channel (seen below). This has compounded the colour balance. The longer exposures has picked up some detail which is good. I think if you give this image some more processing time, you'd get a much pleasing result. Hope to see more.

bluescope · #3 02-05-2008, 06:09 PM

Thanks Jase.

How about you adjust it to your liking and repost it for me to see, if that's possible. I can send you a higher res version if you like straight out of DeepSkyStacker before any processing.

I've looked at similar images by Martin Pugh and Robert Gendler and mine is not that disimilar from theirs apart from much longer exposures, much higher res cameras, RC scopes with paramount ME mounts, not to forget their dark sky locations ( Yass and New Mexico ) and their years of experience.

What can I say ! I'd love to not have mercury vapour street lights from two major roads, multiple car yards, a cafe strip plus shopping centre - next street - 200 metres over to the west, a major industrial area 1-2kms to the east and a bloody capital city 2-3kms away to the north. Geez when I think about my location it makes me really pissed off

Sorry !

I'm just waiting for my lady to get sick of the city life !

I'd be most happy to see any improved processing to this image. I don't think my PS5.5 is quite up to it and I don't think my skills warrant the expense of buying Maxim DL yet. Actually I downloaded a demo version the other day, yet to try it. Might install it tonight.

Bassnut (Fred) · #4 02-05-2008, 08:02 PM

Nice one Steve. Somewhat over processed, but some nice details.

Longer exposures might be appropriate, but I see slightly eggy stars there, which is a worry for for 4 min exposures, so longer will probably make it worse. DL will make capture/cal/stacking a snack, but I found processing still best in PS.

bluescope · #5 03-05-2008, 01:39 AM

Cheers Fred it's a long learning process ! Thanks for looking and your comments.

bluescope · #6 03-05-2008, 01:56 AM

Hi All

Jase has kindly taken time to reprocess the data I gathered on this image and here is the result. I stipulate that he tells me he didn't spend much time on it and this is his first rendition ....

Thanks Jase

jase (Jason) · #7 03-05-2008, 07:09 AM

Steve, this is my next cut of your data. Not much difference to the previous version other than the data was stretched a little harder. I also duplicated the base layer, stretched it even further. Then used the multiply blend on the layer and dropped the opacity. This provided a quick contrast adjustment. Given time, you could experiment with masks to bring out the shadows a little more. There are so many ways to deal with data. Anyway, let me know if you need further instructions or guidance. I think something in between these two images maybe the nirvana (personal opinion). Histograms are somewhat cleaner.

Matty P (Matt) · #8 03-05-2008, 08:22 AM

Nice looking image Steve, the reprocessed image looks great.

Looking forward for more, Well done.

bluescope · #9 03-05-2008, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase

Steve, this is my next cut of your data. Not much difference to the previous version other than the data was stretched a little harder. I also duplicated the base layer, stretched it even further. Then used the multiply blend on the layer and dropped the opacity. This provided a quick contrast adjustment. Given time, you could experiment with masks to bring out the shadows a little more. There are so many ways to deal with data. Anyway, let me know if you need further instructions or guidance. I think something in between these two images maybe the nirvana (personal opinion). Histograms are somewhat cleaner.

That does look better Jase the colour has started to come through more. Thanks for posting it and the tips once again !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matty P

Nice looking image Steve, the reprocessed image looks great.

Looking forward for more, Well done.

Thanks Matty !

jase (Jason) · #10 03-05-2008, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluescope

...not to forget their dark sky locations ( Yass and New Mexico ) and their years of experience.

What can I say ! I'd love to not have mercury vapour street lights from two major roads, multiple car yards, a cafe strip plus shopping centre - next street - 200 metres over to the west, a major industrial area 1-2kms to the east and a bloody capital city 2-3kms away to the north. Geez when I think about my location it makes me really pissed off

Sorry !

I wouldn't blame your environment too much Steve. I feel certain once you sort out your auto guiding woes and spend a little more time processing the data, you'll come up with some great images. You may choose to remove the elongated star subs from the combine function. Having dark skies for imaging is a bonus, but over time you'll become proficient at deal with light pollution gradients and balancing colours (i.e. subtly dropping the green channel to reduce the impact of light pollution or introducing a LPR filter into the imaging train). You'll find a big break though when you go longer in your subs. Don't forget to take some flats too. Look forward to seeing more.

bluescope · #11 04-05-2008, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase

I wouldn't blame your environment too much Steve. I feel certain once you sort out your auto guiding woes and spend a little more time processing the data, you'll come up with some great images. You may choose to remove the elongated star subs from the combine function. Having dark skies for imaging is a bonus, but over time you'll become proficient at deal with light pollution gradients and balancing colours (i.e. subtly dropping the green channel to reduce the impact of light pollution or introducing a LPR filter into the imaging train). You'll find a big break though when you go longer in your subs. Don't forget to take some flats too. Look forward to seeing more.

It's just so frustrating having come from a dark sky area where I didn't have the gear to do imaging other than lunar and a couple of bright globs on my old eq5 ! I am waiting for an IDAS LPS 2 to arrive, should be this coming week. Then I can put my MPCC back into the train as well which will also help with coma. So I know better things are to come .... but I'm an Aries and we are not too good at patience. Thanks for your help Jase I may well call on your expertise again in the future if you don't mind.

Cheers