Ok, I finally got my image cleaned up. I also had the opportunity to crack the binder on a new book focused on image processing… from an astrophotographer’s perspective. It’s called “The New Astro Zone System for Astro Imaging” by Ron Wodaski with Russ Croman. I’ve only gotten a chapter or two into the book and feel like I’m 100% better at image processing. I can’t even say that I’ve taken in all that I’ve read… only a small portion of it… and yet…. as the accompanying image shows, I’ve certainly picked up something If you’re at all serious about astrophotography, this book is a must read. You may already know a large chunk of what’s covered in the book, but if you pick up just a few nuggets, this book could push you to the next level.

Anyway, this image was created from (10) 60 second exposures at ISO400 with Canon Digital Rebel XTi through my Astro Physics Starfire 160 at prime focus f/7.5. The images were stacked using RegiStax (another program that I’ve only scratched the surface with).

Next, I brought this into PhotoShop where I applied some of Wodaski and Croman’s magic. I used Levels (which I’ve used extensively before), and Curves (which I’ve hardly ever used before because I didn’t know what in the world I was supposed to accomplish with it). I used each of these twice and then saved the image.

Finally, I pulled this image into Neat Image. This is a program that bills itself as the best noise reduction program on the market. Not knowing much about this… and being satisfied with the results… I’ll accept their claim at face value. Neat Image took off some of the rough edges in my image. It considerable reduced the noise (pixelation) in the image with a somewhat intuitive interface. I’ll need to go through the docs to see what can be accomplished with this tool, but its interface was not the slightest bit intimidating… and seemed to suggest that I tweak settings to see the effects.

All in all, I think I have already made a qualitative breakthrough in my astrophotography skills. I’ve printed a few of my favorites… and am looking forward to revisiting some of my earlier efforts as I upgrade my skills with the aforementioned tools.

Be sure to checkout my earlier effort on Irregular Galaxy M82. This was created before I began working “in the zone”

Astro Photo Details:

* Designation: M81
* Type: Spiral Galaxy
* Constellation: Ursa Major
* Magnitude: 6.9
* Size: 21′x 10′

* Designation: M82
* Type: Irregular Galaxy
* Constellation: Ursa Major
* Magnitude: 8.4
* Size: 8′x 3′

Astro Photo Processing Details

* 10 x 60s exposures at ISO400
* Stacked using RegiStax 4
* Photo Shop Levels & Curves
* Neat Image

Among the best known galaxy pairing in the sky are M81 & M82 located in the northern constellation, Ursa Major. These two are particularly photogenic. M81 being a beautiful spiral galaxy while M82 is categorized as an “irregular galaxy”. Looking at the accompanying image of M82, its easy to see what it was categorized that way. First up, it doesn’t display any of the classic galaxy shapes. Not really a spiral galaxy, not really an elliptical galaxy, it hardly even looks like a galaxy at all… more of an anomaly. As you look at the galaxy, the first thing that catches your eye is the distinctive mottling through the center. There certainly seems to be a whole bunch going on in there…

Ok, so the post is galaxy pairs… what happened to the other member of the pair, M81? Well, while processing the image, the right half of the image which contained M82 suffered a number of aberations. I was too tired to fix these while trying to get a post written. Plus, I really liked the way that M82 turned out all by itself. So, I brought the image into Photo Shop and copied M82 out into its own file. I’ll get the image properly processed and added to another post at some point

This image was created from 12 images capture on the night of 11/3/07. This was a pretty nice night. 665 on the clear sky clock. Perfectly clear, Perfectly transparent skies, very steady skies.

Astro Photo Details:

* Designation: M82
* Type: Irregular Galaxy
* Constellation: Ursa Major
* Magnitude: 8.4
* Size: 8′x 3′

Astro Photo Processing Details

* 12 x 60s exposures at ISO400
* Stacked using RegiStax 4
* Photo Shop Levels
* Neat Image

This has always been one of my favorites deep sky objects to observe. NGC 891 is a sweet, edge-on spiral galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. The galaxy has an almost ghost-like appearance. To really appreciate it however, requires a large telescope under dark skies. I’ve found it almost impossible to find under even moderately light polluted skies in small to mid-sized telescope. However, get all your details taken care of (aperture, clear skies and limited light pollution) and this baby screams “look at me” at the top of its photons. I’ve observed NGC891 under mag 7 skies using a 25″ Obsession. The views were breathtaking. The central dust lane readily bisected the galaxy which seemed to stretch much further than memory would have indicated.

After snagging a few more shots of Comet 17P/Holmes, I decided to try my luck at a tougher target. At mag 9.9, this is by far the faintest object I’d ever gone after. I decided I would stack (30) 60 second exposures. I also cranked things up to ISO 1600 figuring that it’d be easier to remove noise than to invent data

The accompanying image is what resulted from my efforts.

Astro Photo Details:

• Designation: NGC 891 / Caldwell 23
• Type: Edge On Spiral Galaxy
• Constellation: Andromeda
• Magnitude: 9.9
• Size: 14.0′ x 3.0′

Astro Photo Processing Details

• 30 x 60s exposures at ISO1600
• Stacked using RegiStax 4
• Neat Image
• Photo Shop Levels