Sunday, July 03, 2011

M20 Triffid Nebula

Image Details:

  • Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor
  • Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000
  • Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
  • Guiding Camera: Meade DSI-C
  • Mount: Celestron CGEM
  • Exposures: 6 * 7 minute light frames
  • ISO 800
  • Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
  • Post-Processing in GIMP (contrast, saturation, curves and unsharp mask)
  • Noise Reduction in NeatImage (Filter and Sharpen)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great shot! One of your best color shots.

Scott

Polaris B said...

Very nice, Phil! The great sensitivity of the camera in blue is obvious on this one. I'd like to trace the blue out that far.

Val

Phil said...

Thanks a lot, guys. The D7000 did well with this object, really not bad at all for a DSLR. The heat of summer does bring out some extra noise at higher ISOs so I need to be patient and concentrate on getting dark frames. Still, happy with the colors in this image. Cheers.

RoryG said...

Nice colors on that one, Phil. I know what you mean about the noise, though. Summer--especially THIS summer--doesn't do DSLRs any favors!

One of the problems with darks, though, is that they can leave holes in the images. This problem is probably more pronounced on DSLRs because they are not cooled like the dedicated astro-imaging cameras. Some folks have built cold boxes for their cameras and have had decent results. I've got all the parts to build one, but haven't had the time to do it. Maybe by next summer...

Phil said...

Thanks, Rory. Next time I am out, I am going to try and put together and ice bag or something. Having said that, temps have been falling over here during the overnight hours (thankfully!)