This image is the result of a collaborative effort between myself and my friend and imaging colleague, Niall MacNeill. The data that were used for this image were 100% solely captured by Niall at his private observatory located near Bathurst in the Central West of NSW. Over 22 hours of data were captured with a Celestron C14 Edge HD and SBIG 16803 CCD camera. Filters used for the capture were Red, Green, Blue and Hydrogen Alpha.
Following much discussion on processing techniques we both ventured off and separately processed the data using Pixinsight. The result from Rodney's work is in Revision B on this page and the result of Niall's work is in Revision C.
Whilst we are both happy with the results of our individual efforts, looking at the two images showed a number of good features present in both which we felt could be brought out by combining our individual results into a collaborative work. To achieve this I brought the two final images together in Pixinsight using the following workflow steps:
* Register both images to align star field
* Average both images using Pixelmath
* Local Histogram Equalisation to enhance details in galaxy
* Multi Scale Linear Transform to sharpen stars
* Use Curves Transformation tool to adjust colour
We both felt that this version combines some of the best features of both our efforts and hope that you agree.
For full details of the story behind Niall's work in collecting data for this image, refer to Niall's page by clicking on the image below.
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