M33 Triangulum Galaxy from Rother Valley Campsite 14 Sept 2012

[The Thing]

This was a fantastic target, the individual subs as are good as some of my finished images from a couple of years ago!

HEQ5 Pro (recently re-greased), EQMOD, CdC, LX90 8" UHTC Baader Alan Gee II Telecompressor, Canon 350Da, NO Astronomik CLS-CCD clip filter, Lakeside ASCOM Focuser, Meade 8x50 FinderGuidescope & QHY5, PHD Guiding, APT Astro Photography Tool.

Processed in IRIS. 20 flats, 8 darks, 10 offset/bias frames. 32 x 300s (2h40m) at iso800. Stacked with sigma 1.5 with 1 iterations. Colour and dynamic stretching, wavelet sharpening and binning twicex2.

Full size

[mickw]

Looking real good Dunc

[The Thing]

Thanks Mick. I'm well chuffed .

I reckon you could do a nice image or two if you got yourself and the gear out to the next DSC (or even your back garden!).

BTW the left edge was 'down' hence the skyglow showing up (no CLS-CCD used). I tried the GRAD command in IRIS but it enhanced the vignetting in a negative way, i.e. brighter round the corners!

[MarkS]

Looking good Duncan.  M33 is a great galaxy. 

I think overall it is a bit green but apart from that it is an image you should be well pleased with.

Mark

[The Thing]

Thanks Mark.

I've reduced the green using IRIS, so if you refresh the browser you should see a better colour balance.

[Carole]

Really good Duncan, one of your best.

Carole

[The Thing]

Thanks Carole. All done in IRIS.

[RobertM]

That's really excellent Duncan, I also think its your best image to date.

Nice colour balance and plenty of detail.

Robert

[Mike]

That's really nice Duncan. I also did M33 at Kelling but seem to have a light leak across the images from god only knows where.

I've tried using Iris but it is not at all intuitive to use. It's definitely software for mathematicians not astronomers.

[MarkS]

Colour balance is much better now and the H-alpha "knots" stand out well. 
Overall, the image is looking really good.

Definitely one to be proud of!

Mark

[Carole]

I've tried using Iris but it is not at all intuitive to use. It's definitely software for mathematicians not astronomers.

I agree Mike, I tried to use it for a while and even with Mark's crib sheet and it defeated me.

Carole

[JohnP]

Well I have to say Dunc your best to date definitely - great result - John

[Ivor]

Great image! I look forward to going to a DSC soon if the sky is this good.

Question: I've yet to grasp what to set Sigma and iteration when to adjust this, how did you make the decision to set Sigma to 1.5 and iterations to 1?

[Fay]

Really good Duncan, i was on this subject, but was advised it was too low, at the time, will do from home.

That is one of your best, if not THE BEST!!

[mickw]

I look forward to going to a DSC soon if the sky is this good

The sky is always good, it's the clouds and other weather that's crap