StarTools

Finally had a night where everything came together. Son and i were able to get to our dark site, weather was ideal, equipment all worked well, and time was on our side. As a result, able to get some pretty solid (for me and my equipment anyway *heh*) data of M51.

Unstretched 2x Drizzled TIF

My result :

• Orion ED80T CF
• Celestron CG5
• PHD guiding via Orion SSAG and Orion 50mm Guidescope
• EOS 450D, IR filter removed
• Hotech SCA Field Flattener
• BackyardEOS Session management
• 32 x 240" ISO 400
• 10 x Bias
• 10 x Flats

StarTools Log:

• --- Bin
  • Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 35.38%)/(798.89%)/(+3.00 bits)]
  --- Crop
  • Parameter [X1] set to [16 pixels]
  • Parameter [Y1] set to [35 pixels]
  • Parameter [X2] set to [1484 pixels (-33)]
  • Parameter [Y2] set to [978 pixels (-32)]
  --- Develop
  • Parameter [White Calibration] set to [Use Stars]
  • Parameter [Gamma] set to [0.98]
  • Parameter [Skyglow] set to [0 %]
  • Parameter [Digital Development] set to [96.76 %]
  • Parameter [Blue Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Green Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Red Luminance Contrib.] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [41 %]
  • Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [2.4 pixels]
  --- Wavelet Sharpen
  • Parameter [Channels] set to [Brightness Only]
  • Parameter [Scale 1] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 2] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 3] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 4] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 5] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [8.0 pixels]
  • Parameter [Brightness Mask Power] set to [0.00]
  • Parameter [Amount] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Small Detail Bias] set to [75 %]
  --- Deconvolution
  • Parameter [Image Type] set to [Deep Space]
  • Parameter [Mask Behavior] set to [De-ring Mask Gaps, Hide Result]
  • Parameter [Radius] set to [1.5 pixels]
  • Parameter [Iterations] set to [6]
  • Parameter [Regularization] set to [1.00 (optimal noise and detail)]
  • Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [8.0 pixels]
  --- Color
  • Parameter [Cap Green] set to [To Brown]
  • Parameter [Bottom End Saturation] set to [1.20]
  • Parameter [Top End Saturation] set to [6.60]
  • Parameter [Saturation] set to [524 %]
  • Parameter [Blue Ratio] set to [2.21]
  • Parameter [Green Ratio] set to [2.00]
  • Parameter [Red Ratio] set to [1.84]
  • Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
  --- Wavelet De-Noise
  • Parameter [Scale 1] set to [100 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 2] set to [0 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 3] set to [71 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 4] set to [0 %]
  • Parameter [Scale 5] set to [0 %]
  • Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
  • Parameter [Brightness Mask Power] set to [0.00]
  • Parameter [Color Detail Loss] set to [50 %]
  • Parameter [Brightness Detail Loss] set to [50 %]
  • Parameter [Structural Emphasis] set to [0 pixels]
  • Parameter [Edge Repair Strength] set to [15 %]
  • Parameter [Noise Tracking Influence] set to [150 %]
  • Parameter [Intelligent Despeckle] set to [34 %]
  --- Color
  • Parameter [Cap Green] set to [No]
  • Parameter [Bottom End Saturation] set to [7.10]
  • Parameter [Top End Saturation] set to [Full]
  • Parameter [Saturation] set to [142 %]
  • Parameter [Blue Ratio] set to [1.00]
  • Parameter [Green Ratio] set to [1.00]
  • Parameter [Red Ratio] set to [1.00]
  • Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]

That's an excellent rendition Gordon.
Color is spot on in my opinion (so glad I glad that Color module sorted out now )
It's showing some good depth with a good few other faint fuzzies starting to pop up - these are very, very good result from a 'mere' DSLR!
I really like the framing as well - nice to see M51 in its celestial context.
Would you know what that elongated star is in the upper left corner? Are they just two bright stars close together?

admin wrote:That's an excellent rendition Gordon.
Color is spot on in my opinion (so glad I glad that Color module sorted out now )
It's showing some good depth with a good few other faint fuzzies starting to pop up - these are very, very good result from a 'mere' DSLR!
I really like the framing as well - nice to see M51 in its celestial context.
Would you know what that elongated star is in the upper left corner? Are they just two bright stars close together?

Thanks, Ivo! I'm awfully pleased with this one, and am really tickled by the comments I've been getting, most of which have been similar to yours. I owe much of it to StarTools.

And yes, I believe that elongated star to be two close together, perhaps a binary, but I am unsure. I noticed it right away in my unstretched stack, and it's fairly clearly two objects of different color...but I've not yet found anything definitive to tell me what it is, whether it's binary, etc etc. None of the plate solvers identify it as anything significant, so I'm scraping the bottom of the Google barrel at the moment.

When I get home this afternoon, I'll post a crop of the area from my unstretched TIF and let you see what I mean.

Was able to get a crop of it over on my work laptop:
That's from the unstretched stacked TIF I linked in my top post.

gboulton wrote:Was able to get a crop of it over on my work laptop:
That's from the unstretched stacked TIF I linked in my top post.

Interesting... Do tell if you find out more about its designation!

admin wrote:Interesting... Do tell if you find out more about its designation!

For all I know, its "designation" may well be "CameraFutz-2013TopLeft"

Ok, having said the above...I'm now fairly certain it's a legitimate binary star of some sort. Whether it's a true binary (orbiting one another) or just appears to be but one is far more distant, I have no idea.

Consider this, however:

This is Google Sky for that specific area of the sky. (M51 is "below and left" of this screenshot.) Note the obvious binary at the center...large red star, smaller whiter star.
Now, this is Google Sky with a crop of my image laid over the RA/DEC provided by Astrometry.net
It matches perfectly (Even showing I got the faint galaxy there...I'd LOVE to know what that is ). Even the orientation of the binary stars is the same.

So...I think it's pretty clear it's not a camera fluke or artifact...it's definitely a celestial object(s)...but as to its designation, still no clue. Astrometry.net clearly correctly solved that cropped section...but didn't offer any annotation at all.

That's some really nice sleuthing there with some pretty conclusive evidence. Stuff like this is really good to know - it means your equipment, flats, stacking and post-processing are all artifact-free and rock solid! It's easy to introduce artifacts at all of these stages (sometimes very faint or innocuous), but you've really nailed it. It's always good to second guess yourself, especially when your really start to push your data and equipment to this advanced level of AP.

Pretty awesome - the longer you look at it, the more faint fuzzies you can see - all legit and with a DSLR no less!

Ok, I had a look in KStars and found their designation; HD117174 is indeed a multiple star system.
Pretty cool!
The galaxy at 1 o'clock is IC4263
The galaxy in the upper right is NGC5173
The orange 'star' at 3 o'clock, far right is actually galaxy NGC5198.

Nice, nice, nice!

admin wrote:Ok, I had a look in KStars and found their designation; HD117174 is indeed a multiple star system.
Pretty cool!
The galaxy at 1 o'clock is IC4263
The galaxy in the upper right is NGC5173
The orange 'star' at 3 o'clock, far right is actually galaxy NGC5198.

Nice, nice, nice!

Nice work, Ivo! Between this info, and a couple other sleuths over on /r/astrophotography, I think i've got the whole area nailed down now...and it is absolutely humbling to me to think about what imaging those means...i mean...I'm just a guy in my back yard, ya know?

And you're right...there's a definite sense of satisfaction there to know that my equipment and I are performing well...processing is solid and clean, equipment is reliable, the works. It makes me feel like perhaps further expenditures into more "serious" equipment in the future will be rewarded.