IMAGER'S LOGS

Imager's Log, 16 May 2011: Extended cloud season has given me more time to play with the M101 I took last summer. I wasn't proficient with flat framing—it seemed like black magic, a bit of esoterica I thought I could skip. Since then, I've practiced this part of imaging and got better at it. However, this recent proficiency occurred after taking this image. Processing and reprocessing it was a challenge without flat frames. It has given me a greater appreciation of the necessity of taking flat frames. Anyway, I processed the original M101 with MaximDL only, whereas I used all of my new tools to create the reprocessed image. The difference is quite apparent. Hopefully, I will do a new M101 once better conditions set in.

Imager's Log, 8 May 2011: Clear skies this spring have been a rarity, even more so on new moon weekends. I seized the chance at the end of April to bag M81, a beautiful spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. As I dig deeper into IP4AP, I find that the initial processing effort is merely a starting point and not the final statement. This series of images shows the evolution of this image. The presence of so much cloud cover afforded me the opportunity to sharpen my processing skills. I could practice more if I had more images to practice on.

Imager's Log, 25 Mar. 2011: At this stage of my pursuit of the perfect image, I believe I have achieved my first goal: acquiring processable raw frames. It's taken ten years to acquire the equipment, integrate the disparate elements, and get it all working together in harmony. While there are a few things still on the wish list, I am content with what I have. March is usually a prime imaging time in Columbus, but cloud season has stubbornly held on. Without a decent opportunity to acquire new frames, I thought I'd pay some attention to organizing the images I've played with over the past month or so. Since the beginning of fall, I have been honing my image processing skills on raw frames of objects I took over the past nine months. Although all these images appear on the Columbus Nebula page in various places, I decided to place the original and reprocessed images on one page to illustrate the progress I'm making.

M51 Spiral Galaxy “The Whirlpool” in Canes Venatici. 60 min. L, 30 min. R, 30 min. G, 60 min. B, C-11 @ f/6.3. Taken 30 June & 1 July 2010, from under the Columbus nebula.

Posted 24 July 2010

The holy grail of astrophotography

Same raw frames reprocessed, smaller field of view (“FOV”) than the original.

Posted 17 Feb. 2011.

Same raw frames reprocessed, same FOV as the original.

Posted 23 Mar. 2011.

M63 Spiral Galaxy “The Sunflower” in Canes Venatici. 90 min. L, 25 min. R, 50 min. G, 170 min. B, C-11 @ f/6.3. Taken 16, 17, 29, and 30 June 2010, from under the Columbus nebula.

Posted 24 July 2010

Same raw frames reprocessed, larger FOV than the original.

Posted 13 Feb. 2011.

Same raw frames reprocessed, same FOV as the February reprocess.

Posted 25 Mar. 2011.

Arp 29 aka NGC 6946 Spiral Galaxy “The Fireworks” in Cepheus. LRGB 30 min. each layer. Taken 1 Nov. 2010, from under the Columbus nebula.

Posted 3 Nov. 2010

Same raw frames reprocessed, larger FOV than the original.

Posted 23 Mar. 2011.

M81 Spiral Galaxy “Bode's Nebula” in Ursa Major. 25 min. L, 30 min. R, 20 min. G, 25 min. B. Taken April 29, 2011, from under the Columbus nebula.

Second processing effort.

Posted 8 May 2011

Third procesing effort.

Posted 8 May 2011

M101 Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major. 270 min. L, 75 min. R, 75 min. G, 130 min. B, C-11 @ f/6.3. Taken 3, 4, 11, 16 and 17 July from under the Columbus nebula.

Posted 24 July 2010

Second processing effort.

Posted 16 May 2011