OK, I have color. Getting there, but not quite happy with the result. This is my first attempt at LLRGB layering to assemble the color and luminance data.
Too much noise and structural information is coming through with the color data. I had to use a lot of noise reduction in final processing.
Some odd rectangular structure around bright stars that might be coming from the microlenses of the CMOS sensor. This shows in the color data, but not so much the luminance.
As I get back into astrophotography I am starting to conquer the little issues that make huge differences in the results.
I did get a nice session in last week, with several targets imaged. I am still struggling with processing LRGB color data and have some learning ahead of me. In the meantime the monochrome luminance images look pretty good.
I had hoped to get some more telescope time in tonight, the weather decided otherwise. May as well process photos while I listen to rain on the roof.
Just getting back into astrophotography after quite a few years of observing visually. A new camera, updated software, it seems like I am learning all over again.
For a first run I processed a monochrome image of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. A quick run of fourteen luminance frames, 8 at 5 minutes, 6 at 60 seconds combined into a single frame.
M31 or the Andromeda Galaxy, with M110 visible above and M32 visible below the core
I have color data for this image, but that will be a lot more processing. Given all of the various filters and calibration frames I really need to get the automated batch processing running before I do much color work.
Before the Moon gets too bright, and while we have a few hours of clear skies… Shooting a few photos from the driveway with a new camera. Now if only my guiding were better, the declination was having issues, probably a bad polar alignment… What did I do wrong?
Take a photo with a thin film solar filter and you get a blue-white image of the Sun. Correcting this to a yellow gold image is fairly simple in most any photo processing package.
The Sun as photographed through a Baader film solar filterCorrecting is probably the wrong word here. The Sun is actually closer to white as we define color. After all, the Sun is our normal source of light, what our eyes evolved to use.
Color is a fluid subject, simply our interpretation of frequency across a very small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. As such there is no absolute right and wrong, just a set of conventions we normally use.
The issue is that people expect the Sun to be yellow-gold. Present an image of the Sun in any other hue and it is rejected as fake, or false color. We are accustomed to certain visual cues to identify and interpret our world, color is a major part of that. Unless you want to argue with a million people or two, you are better off making your Sun photos yellow-gold.
The Lagoon, M8 and the Trifid, M20 nebulae in Sagittarius
The Keck 2 and Subaru lasers cross the Milky Way above Mauna Kea
The summer Milky Way soars over the VLBA antenna atop Mauna Kea
The cluster NGC6520 and the dark nebula B86 lost in the immensity of Baade’s Window
The globular cluster M9 next to the dark nebulae B64
The rising Milky Way silhouetting and old a’a lava flow on Mauna Kea, Canon 60D @ ISO12800, 17mm f/4, eight 10 second frames aligned and averaged
The central Milky Way from Mauna Kea, 37 x 30sec, Canon 6D w/24-105mm- f/4.5 @ ISO6400
Baade’s Window, single 8 minute exposure at ISO 800, Canon 20Da DSLR camera mounted on a Televue-76 APO telescope with a 0.8x focal reducer/field flattener
The rising summer Milky Way, Mars and dawn over Mauna Loa
Three AO lasers aimed at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, the lasers are from both Keck 1 and Keck 2 as well as the Subaru telescope
Venus and the summer Milky Way rising over Pu’u Huluhulu
Horizon panorama from Ka’ohe, on the side of Mauna Kea
The winter Milky Way over the summit of Mauna Kea, Canon 6D and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens, 30s at ISO 6400
A bright summer Milky Way shines over Mauna Loa
Both Keck lasers aimed at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
B72, the Snake Nebula, single 8 minute exposure at ISO 800, Canon 20Da DSLR camera mounted on a Televue-76 APO telescope with a 0.8x focal reducer/field flattener
The region around Gamma Cygni in Hydrogen Alpha, including the nebulae IC1318 and NGC6888
The Swan Nebula, NGC6618, 8 x 8min with the Canon 20Da and AT6RC
The cluster NGC6520 and the dark nebula B86 lost in the immensity of Baade’s Window
The Lagoon Nebula, NGC6523, in Sagittarius, 11 x 8min exposures, Canon 20Da and AT6RC
The Lagoon Nebula and The Trifid Nebula, single 8 minute exposure at ISO 800, Canon 20Da DSLR camera mounted on a Televue-76 APO telescope with a 0.8x focal reducer/field flattener
The Orion Nebula with and EOS-M, 40x30s exposures @ ISO12,800, AT6RC and 0.8x focal reducer
NGC1976 or M42, the Great Orion Nebula, taken with the Canon 20Da and a AT6RC telescope.
The ηCarina Nebula NGC3372, Canon 6D and TV-76mm
The Rosette Nebula and cluster, NGC2244, NGC2236, NGC2237 and NGC2238, photo is a stack of 19x8min @ ISO1600, Canon 20Da and TV-76mm
M42, The Orion Nebula, Canon 6D and TV-76mm, 16x240s+10x60s+10x15s @ISO6400
