Whirlpool Galaxy, M51 (jewzaam)

Whirlpool Galaxy, M51

This is one of the first objects I imaged with my telescope and I caught it second after a supermoon with a new ASI533MC Pro. Since then I have learned a LOT even in a few months. I focus better, track better, and am more willing to toss an image. As a result I have gone from 17.1 hours of data down to 9.6 hours for the latest (version G) image. Surprisingly with even such a massive culling it is a better image. Probably not due to processing, though maybe a little. The biggest downside right now is almost every bit of RGB data was taken before I had figured out my flattener. So it's really not that good. Other objects are calling, though, so I leave this object for the season and move on to other things. If anything is added it will be just to fill in some time while the night's targets clear line of sight.

C

Description: Much more data than last time. Still learning this camera. And I stubbronly got some data in some pretty terrible seeing conditions. I just let weighting balance it out, but I did end up fighting the background a lot in deconvolution so maybe not the best of ideas. I also don't have an IR cut filter yet. It arrives tomorrow. So expect I'll try more! Good benchmark while it's up in the night sky while waiting for nebula.

Collected over 3 nights with new ASI533MC Pro. Processed in PixInsight. Going for colorful detail without being too crazy. VERY happy with the final result, though I want to get cleaner data for the faint bits.

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D

Description: Trying a less is more on sharpening. Blended 30% HDR + local histogram equalization.

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E

Description: Added 90 x 120s with l-eXtreme filter. Much much more is needed but this starts to show the Ha in the galaxy which is pretty cool.

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F

Description: Added a lot more Ha with l-eXtreme. Seems a shame to toss O3 but it's not adding to this image. And this was just an opportunity to get some NB while waiting for other objects to get higher in the sky. A win-win, I like how it's looking.

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G

Description: Decided to review my raw images and wow did I have some bad stuff in there to start with. So, a great culling ensued. I dropped 3 nights of data. The final result is very slightly crisper. Also using NSG in PI and saturation with ColorSaturation to focus on the nebulosity in the galaxy.

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H

Description: Improved version with same data. Better knowledge, tools, workflow, etc...

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4682267
PixInsight job	LAA77K3CL1L3ENU9UFHGLQEO52Q85HLZ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m51s.20
RA (top/left)	13h31m59s.99
RA (top/right)	13h32m01s.32
RA (bottom/right)	13h27m40s.79
RA (bottom/left)	13h27m42s.96

Dec (center)	+47°12′01″.2
Dec (top/left)	+46°50′01″.1
Dec (top/right)	+47°33′57″.9
Dec (bottom/right)	+47°33′53″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°49′57″.10

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