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Posts Made By: Charles Hakes

August 22, 2009 01:30 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 7635 - 4 color

Posted By Charles Hakes
Finally got some [SII] (80 minutes). Realigned everything with the H-a and [OIII] and combined using the "Hubble palette." Then I got a short amount through the clear filter and used that to sharpen and bring out the stars. (Darn those purple stars! Still something I can/should play with.) So any thoughts on the contrast and color balance on the rest of it? Of course could always use more frames...

Charlie

August 24, 2009 01:33 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Bubble narrowband re-edit

Posted By Charles Hakes
Just under 4 hours total here. I stretched the [SII] a bit differently and did some more color balancing after getting everything together. I think the balance is a bit better, and hope y'all find it more pleasing. (Also learned how to fix the blooming star.)

And maybe more importantly, this is the first image at the FLC observatory that was able to use 10 minute subs with no giant streaks. I am happy about that, and trust things will only get better. I would like to get some more time now that the tracking is better, but this may be it for a while, as monsoon season apparently has finally arrived here in the Four Corners. I would also like some regular RGB, as I have not done that on the bubble before. Let me know what else it needs.

Charlie

September 11, 2009 04:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Not APOD quintet

Posted By Charles Hakes
I saw that the new Hubble view of Stephan's Quintet was on tap for today. I started my own version last new moon, but didn't get far. 10x10 minutes of medium seeing, but the tracking was better than I have been used to. Since then I have had lots of interruptions - car issues, cloud issues, smoke issues (tell CA to stop doing that!) and classes starting...

Charlie

October 7, 2009 03:52 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Narrow band crab

Posted By Charles Hakes
With the start of school, a string of bad weather, and then getting sucked into a writing project when we had the best, clearest skies in several months, September was not very productive as far as imaging. Finally last weekend I got to head to the observatory very early a couple of mornings with a clear sky but a bright moon. M1 happened to be in a very convenient place, and since I have never tried a narrow band version of it, that is what I did.

These were all 10 minute exposures - 8 Ha, and 5 each of SII and OIII - "standard" order. The seeing was at least as good as 4/10. I would like to get a little more SII and OIII, and also try some clear filter on a better night to see if I can sharpen things up a bit. With this image, I did try a pseudo-L by stacking everything and stretching/sharpening as if it were L. I don't know if it helped, but I don't think it hurt. Another processing note is that importing the FIT to photoshop, I used only a sqrt(x) stretch, which is much less aggressive than most of the other options.

Thanks for looking; processing hints and comments always welcome.

Charlie

October 10, 2009 05:09 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

SN2009JF in NGC7479

Posted By Charles Hakes
This galaxy had been on my to do list since June, when it was a brief target of opportunity. And now it shows up with a supernova (type Ib). It is the really blue star in the galaxy. Seeing was pretty bad (~4"), and the wind(?) messed with tracking a bit, so I might try a repeat on a better night.

Charlie

October 21, 2009 11:42 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M1

Posted By Charles Hakes
I finally got another clear night and was able to get some luminance on the crab nebula. This was 63 minutes with 3 minute subs. Couldn't go for longer subs, as I still had to "fix" a star. I added an hour of RGB while I was at it. Next I will try to use this L with the narrow band data from a week ago.

I have seen some more contrasty versions of M1, but was not sure how to approach that without star damage or weird artifacts. I stretched this one enough to see some background things, but have been debating between different monitors as to whether or not just a darker sky would look better, so comments definitely welcome on that.

Thanks for looking.
Charlie

October 22, 2009 02:21 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

adding L to narrow band (?)

Posted By Charles Hakes
I re-processed the L channel and added that to the narrow band data from last week. I think I like the details and stars a lot better. The L channel was a "luminance" on the bottom, and I used a 40% "multiply" with the narrow band between the L and the "color" channel on top.

Charlie

October 23, 2009 12:13 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Lagoon closeup

Posted By Charles Hakes
This was a target of opportunity the other night while waiting for other things to get up. I Iooked at what had been done at FLC, and there was not any recent images. This is a set of 20x15s L, and 9x30s each of RGB. If another night comes up I might be able to get some SII and OIII to go with some Ha from last year.

Charlie

October 23, 2009 12:30 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M1 update

Posted By Charles Hakes
I fixed the contrast on the L channel and basically re-processed the entire image, and like this version a little better. Might try to put these star colors onto the narrow band version. So much to play with, and it looks like I won't get another observatory trip for a week, so I should at least process some of what is here.

Charlie

October 30, 2009 01:31 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Another M42 narrow band

Posted By Charles Hakes
This one layers an L channel with the "standard" Hubble colors. Quite a mix of 15, 30, and 60 second exposures for the narrow band filters (6nm AstroDon) and 1 and 3 second exposures through a clear filter. Those stars really start blooming quickly. Although it took less than 30 minutes total exposure, I spent way longer fiddling with the processing on this one.

Charlie

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