NGC 225, The Sailboat Cluster (Rob Foster)

NGC 225, The Sailboat Cluster

Revision title: NGC 225 and VDB4, The Sailboat Cluster (5th revision), using SPCC and new tools

I did not expect the nebulosity to show up in this open cluster in Cassiopeia given the 30s subs shot at iso 200. I first uploaded a wider field of view, but i think the cropped version is my favorite

Original
B
C
D
Final
E

D

Title: NCG 225 Revisited, no drizzle

Description: The beauty of astrophotography is the iterative learning curve, learning from your own trial and error but also from so many other talented astrophotographers. I was not happy with the first few drafts of the drizzled target for the Sailboat cluster, and after finding a better result (with the previous post (Kemble's Cluster) with the undrizzled integration compared to the drizzled integration, I went back and re-processed NGC 225 using the undrizzled masters. In addition, I followed the advice of others on this site with regards to the initial stretching. For so long, I have struggled with blowing out the cores of stars, even with low iso and exposure times, but I think a lot of the "blow out" was because of how I was stretching, using Masked Stretch for the the initial conversion. I would have to then go back and utilize HSV repair and ColorClip scripts to prevent the blowout. For this draft, and for the previous post, I had an easier time processing an undrizzled image employing a standard STF to HT stretch, followed by gentle ArcsinhStretch to keep the stars under much better control. I am not sure it is all that much better, but certainly looks cleaner than the previous draft.

Uploaded: ...

E

Title: NGC 225 and VDB4, The Sailboat Cluster (5th revision), using SPCC and new tools

Description: Ironic that I maxed out the 5th version update for the first time on this "simple" open cluster in Cassiopeia; need to upgrade to Ultimate! The challenge with the initial versions were the zoomed in cropping as well as the embedded nebulosity and the adjacent dark nebula VDB4 just above the cluster in this image. Color was improved from the beginning with SPCC and starting with the drizzled masters certainly helped star morphology. All 3 of the Croman Tools absolutely helped in PI, and in the end Noel Carboni's excellent Astronomy Tools in Ps helped as well. Is it better? Not sure, but I think I am going to have to leave it with this version.

Uploaded: ...

N.I.N.A. Users
DSLR and mirrorless astrophotography

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	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

	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

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	6888892
PixInsight job	DUM0LWH5RNKUNT5I5F6OXTYR56USVD1V
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	00h41m32s.174
RA (top/left)	00h41m38s.322
RA (top/right)	00h35m34s.880
RA (bottom/right)	00h41m26s.465
RA (bottom/left)	00h47m37s.112

Dec (center)	+61°44′12″.86
Dec (top/left)	+62°30′16″.11
Dec (top/right)	+61°26′36″.30
Dec (bottom/right)	+60°58′06″.80
Dec (bottom/left)	+62°00′49″.19

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):