Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  HD117815  ·  IC 4263  ·  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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M51 HaLRGB, Marc Mantha
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M51 HaLRGB

Revision title: Different crop and darker background

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M51 HaLRGB, Marc Mantha
Powered byPixInsight

M51 HaLRGB

Revision title: Different crop and darker background

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Description

M51 in HaLRGB, taken using with a focal lenght 430mm, so I suded 2x drizzle, very pleased by the results!

Taken over multiple nights in January and February 2024 from my bortle 8 backyard.

I added Ha data to make the nebulosity inside galaxy pop out, without that data those details are compltly washed out from the broadband red channel under heavy light pollution. I had a hard time integrating that narrowband channel into the RGB data. In the end, the trick was to use the clone the stretched, starless, Ha image to create a mask and apply it the stretched LRGB starless image. I then applied the following pixelmath straight to the masked LRGB image:

R=max($T[0]+2.25*Ha)
G=$T[1]
B=$T[2]

I had been so long since I had processed data, I was rusty. Still need some practice!

Hope that you like you like it!

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  • M51 HaLRGB, Marc Mantha
    Original
  • Final
    M51 HaLRGB, Marc Mantha
    B

B

Title: Different crop and darker background

Description: Keep the background of the LRGB version and used a masked for the HaLRGB version of the galaxy.

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M51 HaLRGB, Marc Mantha