M66 - 18 January 2024 (Geof Lewis)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Leo (Leo) · Contains: Leo Triplet · M 66 · NGC 3627 · PGC 1417198 · PGC 1421317 · PGC 1423398

Powered byPixInsight

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

Powered byPixInsight

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

Here is an RGB image of the Messier 66 galaxy in Leo, being one of the Leo Triplet set. I was hoping to collect more data, including some galaxy Ha, but I didn't have another opportunity before I had hip replacement surgery on 14 Feb, which effectively has put me out of action AP wise for severl weeks to come. Hence, I decided to process the somewhat limited data that I have. If I get an opportunity to add more towards the end of galaxy season then I will.
This was also my first use of the stand alone 'GraXpert' gradient removal software, which I used on each of the 3 channel stacks whilst still linear data, prior to building and processing the RGB colour image. It did a really great job cleaning the data, so will definitely feature in my standard processing toolkit in future.

Original
Final
B

B

Title: My first ever use of PixInsight

Description: On 3 March 2024, after many years of deliberation, I finally decided to trial PixInsight, so used my recent M66 data to have a play. I used the GraxPert (AI) standalone version on the separate calibrated RGB data to remove gradients, then channel combined in ImagesPlus as usual. I took the raw combined stack over to PI for colour calibration (PCC), ArcSinH stretch, split stars using StarXT, additional ArcSinH and UnsharpMask on the starless image. Recomibined with stars using PixelMaths, then ran BXT (I know this should have been done on linear image, so next time), followed by NoiseXT.
I'm very much on the 1st rung of the PI ladder, but already like what I'm seeing.

Uploaded: ...

Best Messier images
Galaxies
Messier images

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9483713
PixInsight job	ELRLKE11VI5J713QOCEST2Z3T3HAF8EC
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	11h20m13s.612
RA (top/left)	11h21m00s.509
RA (top/right)	11h19m25s.768
RA (bottom/right)	11h19m26s.746
RA (bottom/left)	11h21m01s.425

Dec (center)	+12°58′53″.76
Dec (top/left)	+13°07′40″.57
Dec (top/right)	+13°07′22″.37
Dec (bottom/right)	+12°50′06″.80
Dec (bottom/left)	+12°50′24″.56

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

In these collections

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

M66 - 18 January 2024

Revision title: My first ever use of PixInsight

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

In these collections

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

Delete this revision?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information