Galaxies and beyond
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This is the third image session that Maurizio did the night between March 13 and 14 in the Apennines, a place called La Faggia at 740 masl. This time the comet captured was 62P Tsuchinsan between 1:37am-3:33am. In Astrometry, around 40 galaxies are annotated, but there are many more.

Unlike the two previous attempts on this comet, at a first glance at the raw images, this session promised much more than those carried out in the city. Not only because the comet was much more noticeable but because of the beautiful area that surrounded it, full of galaxies that characterizes the Virgo Constellation.

In the processing of this session I had to modify the usual workflow a little again due to the numerous presence of galaxies around and close to the comet.

A normal stack was made in DSS to obtain the star base where the comet appears in trail. The good thing was to observe that the print of the comet was quite diffuse. The vision of this first stack was really exciting for me, verifying what I had observed in the review of the raw images.

StarExterminator was applied to this stack, obtaining what I suspected, the comet-trail and all the intact galaxies scattered in the image without stars. This layer was duplicated and I cleaned out all the galaxies that were in the image, leaving only the comet-trail. The galaxy near the head of the comet was the most problematic but I managed to do it without affecting the coma of the head.

This layer with only the comet-trail was used to subtract it from the initial original stack, thus obtaining a base of stars and galaxies intact from the original stack, thus managing to better preserve the details of the entire area.

At the same time, the layer with only the comet-trail and galaxies was subtracted from the comet-trail, obtaining a layer with only galaxies which allowed me to work on them to enhance their luminosity, details and color to finally integrate it into the initial stack in a way more natural.

Another stack was made in DSS to get the comet-only and stars trail. The thickest trails left by galaxies and large stars were carefully cleaned. The blackpoint was adjusted so as to leave the very fine remnants of trails of stars and small galaxies almost invisible. It was enhanced in CamRaw with white and clarity. Then NoisExterminator and Topaz denoise were applied, allowing a uniform base to be left throughout the entire frame.

Finally, the layers of stars and galaxies, single galaxies and single comet were combined, benefiting in CamRaw from clarity, white, dehize. A very slight S curve was applied to obtain the final image that you can see.  The Final version Maurizio did a clarity retouch that enhance the image!!

A Bortle 4 sky not only improves the capture of details but even a comet as distant and faint can be seen much better as in this case. This session leaves us very excited and satisfied. So far, Maurizio going 400km to capture them was definitely worth it.

Thank you for visiting us and we hope you like it
Have Clear Skies Everyone

Processed April 2024