Oh Hum...NGC 253

[spearo (Frank)]

Hi
my latest NGC 253.

I've had so many goes at processing this one its not funny...
in the end i found that doing very very little to it seems best.
This is straight from stacking in DSS (with flats, darks, bias, cosmetic 1%)

Slight adjustment in levels, slight crop for centering, a bit of saturation, a pinch of salt...oh wait that's another recipe... a bit of unsharp mask and that's about it.

no high pass filter, no noise reduction etc...
thanks for looking
frank

[h0ughy (David)]

yep natural no make up is fine by me!

[Lester]

Very nice Frank. The galaxy stands out with good contrast and heaps of detail.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks guys,
"girl next door" approach to processing
hahahahaha
frank

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yes have to admit it, growing up I was in love with the girl next door

While perhaps not in love with your image Frank.....I'd buy her a drink

You can make out the vertical streamers too well they are hanging down in your orientation.

Simple is often the best

Mike

[Jen]

beautiful pic

[Ric]

Great image Frank, as you say very natural looking and some nice details as well.

Cheers

[AlexN]

Go SCT Power!

Great image Frank, Such detail for a rather short overall exposure time..

I guess thats what 14" @ F/7 can do

[spearo (Frank)]

Many thanks everyone
much appreciated
cant wait for the dollar to get back on par with the US$ so i can start looking at cooled CCD for greater detail in my images...
i might have to wait a while....
frank

[gregbradley]

Very nice Frank. Could do with a couple of hours worth. Its hard at times with work and weather but that would be ideal. Your 20Da is a very capable camera and megadata is what it needs. I have seen 20Da images that rival CCD images but they all had megadata (like several hours).

I agree with the simple processing. Whilst every image seems to be subtley different good data often means very little processing is needed.

Greg.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks Greg,
do you think longer exposures or more lights of the same exposures stacked?
I am thinking you're referring to more lights stacked. I agree, the more the better and as you said it's often challenging especially because i cant go at it every good clear night, I have to travel to the observatory basically on new Moons or sometimes weekends around it.
At least I've progressed to using flats and bias etc (Mike should be pleased )
frank

[Hagar (Doug)]

I Like it Frank. I think most of us are guilty of over processing our images.
Well done.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks Doug
It's a constant learning curve...i guess that makes it an ellipse?
:]
frank

[Garyh]

Not bad Frank!, I think 253 does very well with minimal processing, I have to try redoing my effort with this approach instead of trying to ring out every last photon. and megadata is the way to go ex with the warmer nights approaching!
cheers and CS

[RB (Andrew)]

I like it too Frank, it looks great.
I agree with Greg, the 20Da is very capable and the more data you can capture obviously the better the result.

[winensky]

Great image. no 'Ho Hum' at all.

[spearo (Frank)]

Many thanks guys
much appreciated truly.

Just waiting for the Moon to move along now....
cheers
frank