M16 The Eaqle Nebula

[timthelder]

Hi all,

My entry for the month, unless I get some more data to add,(which I seriously doubt...)

This will probably be my only attempt at this object as I am going on holiday for a week or so, so I though I would post it up.

Here is a high resolution image.(takes a second to load, so be patient.)

http://www.astrotarp.com/image%20pages/M16_Eagle_Nebula_Page.html


ABOUT THE IMAGE

DATE/TIME: Evening of June 6th, 2010.
CAMERA: Canon XSI, 450D modified
TELESCOPE: Orion 100ED @ F/9
ISO SETTING: 1600
EXPOSURES: 22
EXPOSURE LENGTH: 500sec.
TOTAL EXPOSURE LENGTH: 3hr 3min.
SUBTRACTIONS: 20 dark frames and 10 bias frames.
CAPTURE: MaximDL
STACKING/PRE-PROCESSING: Deep Sky Stacker
PROCESSING: Photoshop CS3


Cheers

[trevorw]

As a suggestion drop your saturation and brightness slightly

also noted some tracking issues their is a plugin for PS called "star rounder" which can help here

http://www.grekalova.com/photo_Astroplugins.html

also star colour could be adjusted

Star Color Enhancement Step by Step

1. Make the Layers Palette visible: Window > Layers

2. Select the Stars in the image

* Set the Magic Wand set to a tolerance of 10, with Anti-Alias checked on, and Contiguous not checked and Sample All Layers not checked.

* Click on an area of blank sky background with the Magic Wand tool.

* Select > Inverse to select just the stars (the nebula will be selected too).

* Change to the Lasso tool. Set the feather to 0 pixels and check on anti-alias.


* Hold down the Alt key, and right-click and carefully drag the lasso tool around the Nebula to de-select it from the selection.

3. Copy stars and paste as new layer: Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste.

4. Click on the star layer to make it active in the Layers Palette.

5. Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation, increase saturation of star layer to +95.

6. Blur the Star Color Layer: Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Radius 1.0 pixel.

7. Change the blending mode of the star color layer to "Color"

8. Flatten the Layer: Layer > Flatten Image.

There are, of course, other ways to select the stars in an image, but this method makes sure even the faint stars are selected.

Otherwise all spot on

Cheers

[Radar]

The pillars of creation are visible mate. It feels like a film image. On that note, I wonder what I could pull from the C14, Film and a LPR? I'm going to have a stab at this one.

Ray

[timthelder]

As a suggestion drop your saturation and brightness slightly

also noted some tracking issues their is a plugin for PS called "star rounder" which can help here


Appreciate the FB Trev,

Made some adjustments, should look a "little" better...The tracking I believe is a flexure problem. The stars look fine as long as I image to the east which places the guidescope directly above the imaging scope. When I image to the south, something moves?

I am working to correct this.

Star rounder plug-in apparently, is no longer an option. the links on the site are dead, so is the yahoo group. Would've been handy in this instance.


I'm going to have a stab at this one.


Thanks Ray, better have a go at it yourself.

[dsoman]

If you want a copy of Star Rounder send me a private e-mail and I will send it to you.

Brent

[trevorw]

The link works for me :anyone:

[timthelder]

Star rounder plug-in apparently, is no longer an option. the links on the site are dead, so is the yahoo group. Would've been handy in this instance.





The link works for me


Just tried again, this time I was able to access the download.

Now let's see if it'll work...

Cheers, Tim

[timthelder]

Ok,

Here is the result of using "Star Rounder", folowed with the median filter set @ 1 to remove some artifacts, smart sharpen to enhance the stars back, (SR seems to dim them in the rounding process,) and a small adjustment to contrast...

Cheers

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/M16TheEagleNebula-1.jpg

[Asimov]

That's a nice reprocess Tim!

[rogerg]

Nice image. Sharp and good detail and extent of nebulosity.

There's a green cast over the image that I think I'd remove, but other than that, hard to improve upon.

Roger.

[poppasmurf]

Nice one Tim:thumbsupmate:

[Radar]

Much better rendition Tim. Star Rounder sounds like a good program. No green tinge on my screen though.

Ray

[timthelder]

Thanks Ray,

The final version is on my website, also a mono verion.

http://www.astrotarp.com/image%20pages/M16_Eagle_Nebula_Page.html

Cheers