Round 2 of M81 and M82. This time using my brand new Esprit 120ED. Just in time for galaxy season and for this last week which was a rare several day span of clear nights. I unfortunately squandered the first three nights wondering about backfocus when I realized I added way too much back spacing.
This time around I wanted to get a lot of data on the galaxy pair as well as bring out the blue from M81 and the red streams from M82. I was originally going to go for a HaOiii bonus to the image but the clouds are rolling back in for now. I can always get that later as this pair is circumpolar in my location.
The Antlia Quadband ALP-T filter is quite good at bringing out the red regions in both galaxies while retaining most of the rest of the colors present. I'm quite satisfied with this attempt especially compared to my last one with the 75Q. I probably should've started with a SCT or larger refractor as there's a ton more of these galaxies out there I would like to image.
I got to say, I really like this Esprit. The stars are perfectly corrected unlike my 75Q which has some coma noticeable in the corners. The Esprit is perfectly round all throughout the sensor. It's just a bit heavy and the captain's wheel on mine seems to be stuck. Also the tube rings were kind of annoying to mount a handle on as I had M6 lying around but they are 1/4. I really look forward to continue imaging with this scope for the foreseeable future.
Processing Steps:
- Stack in ASTAP
- GraXpert background removal.
- Bring into Affinity Photo
- Arcsinh Curves, Levels, Arcsinh Curves, Contrast S x2, Final curves tweaks
- White Balance adjustments (this is new to me and it really does help correct the green haze all over the place)
- Shadows/Highlights - highlights suppression slightly
- Vibrance boost colors
- Background removal in Affinity
Update 2024/03/23:
- HaOiii Stacked in ASTAP
- GraXpert background removal
- Bring into Affinity Photo
- Split into RGB
- Set R as Ha, Oiii as G
- Stretch both channels
- Recolor as red and Oiii as Oiii
- Mask include only the galaxies and blend with the image above
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