Astromart

November 16, 2007 04:11 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

4 nights, one image...arrghhh.....

I never tire of this area, Vince, and you've certainly done it justice.
I, too, would like to see a full resolution version if you could.

dan

November 17, 2007 05:28 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M52

Posted By dan kowall

Hi Jason,
That looks pretty good, but I think your color balance is off a bit.
Try boosting the blue, then do a low end curves (there's still some stuff hiding there). You'll probably have to rebalance the background at that point.
Don't worry about the artifacts. What bloom removal software are you using?
Do you have pictures of your new observatory?

dan

November 21, 2007 03:15 PM Forum: Mounts

Byers gear alignment

Posted By dan kowall

I would give them a call, Mark, they're in the best position to know.
The MI-250 uses a piece of 1/4" bar stock to easily align the assembly, but I have no idea how it's done for the MI-500.

dan

November 26, 2007 04:13 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC7380

Posted By dan kowall

Jason Boyce said:
....I think I should have went deeper on this,some of the faint outer nebulosity was very weak in signal......

***I did 11 hours on this nebula last year with the same camera and filter that you have. I think that you got all of the nebulosity that was available to get. Any more exposure time would just get you a better S/N in the dim parts.

....best I could do was blur it up a bit to make it look better....

***You might want to try a version with a little less blurring. It looked a bit too smooth to these eyes on first glance.
It's okay to show some graininess in an image.
Other than that, it's a great image, Jason.
Congratulations on the mount, it's a fine one.
My regards,

dan

November 27, 2007 10:38 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Sharpless 140

Posted By dan kowall

Jim Thommes said:
........I wonder what a larger deeper field might show?

What a wonderful catch, Jim.
Spitzer targeted this area because it's a strong star forming region:
http://sscws1.ipac.caltech.edu/Imagegallery/image.php?image_name=ssc2004-07a
Yours is a fine introduction to this area.

dan

December 18, 2007 03:47 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

IC410HaRGB

Posted By dan kowall

There's not much that you can do about crummy imaging conditions, Jason, but this one came out pretty good, nonetheless. The star colors are spot on.
My only quibble is that it looks a bit dark on my monitor. I did a mid-level curves boost followed by a touch more saturation and it looks even gooder to me.

dan

December 22, 2007 02:34 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky