Andromeda Galaxy

[sathya kumar Prasanna]

Hi All,

Akshat has posted a link to download the unprocessed tif file for M31, Andromeda galaxy yesterday. I took it up as a processing practice and worked on it using photoshop. I am happy with the result. The only downside is that I did not capture the image. It was captured by Jim from "My Online Astronomy Journal".

Do have a look and let me know what you all think of it.

https://plus.google.com/photos/116719483507527835799/albums/5295549253263111873/5923319359250987634?banner=pwa&pid=5923319359250987634&oid=116719483507527835799

Thanks and Regards

Sathya

https://www.facebook.com/SathyakumarSharma

[Ajay Talwar]

Sathya,

There is a yahoo group called dslr_astro_image_processing where a combined deepsky image file (Tiff) is uploaded and everyone tries their hand at processing the tiff image. Then the group members also post their workflow which could be in Imagesplus, Pixinsight, Nebulosity, Photoshop or other software. The methods are then discussed and debated. The group was started by Neil Heacock, and presently it is mentored by Scott Rosen.

Till now there are 18 challenges posted (the word challenges signifies a competition, but there is hardly any competition in the group, only a lot of learning), these 18 tiff files are some of the best data that I have come across, a delight to process and post in the group along with the workflows. Some of the members also post their processing through the screen capture video along with a commentary. These videos are called walkthroughs videos and are a good learning resource I've found for processing astrophotographs. In fact the walkthrough for M31 (2nd Challenge) was the best. Students from IIT Kanpur wanted to have data for learning processing and I had suggested these challenges to them couple of weeks back.

I have attached a txt file with this email which contains links for all the 18 challenges.

So if you join the dslr_astro_image_processing yahoo group, you will get feedback for the images you have processed from the challenges.

Ajay Talwar

 

Sky Photo Trip - 5th Edition
Astrophotography Workshop in the Himalayas - December 6-8, 2013
Special Highlight - Comet ISON

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From: sathya kumar Prasanna <skps...@gmail.com>
To: b-...@googlegroups.com; abaa...@googlegroups.com; Sanjay Pai <sanja...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 9:21 AM
Subject: [-BAS-] Andromeda Galaxy

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[sathya kumar Prasanna]

Hello Ajay,

Thank you for the link. I am already a member of the group, I will look at the link and practice.

Thanks and Regards

Sathya

https://www.facebook.com/SathyakumarSharma

[Rahul Zota]

Ajay can you plz share that yahoo group's exact web address? I can't search on yahoo... :(

[sathya kumar Prasanna]

Ajay,

Many links in that website "My online astronomy Journal" are broken. When I download the images they fail and say Network error.

Thanks and Regards

Sathya

https://www.facebook.com/SathyakumarSharma

[Ajay Talwar]

Sathya,

Many people have successfully downloaded the images recently from the very same link, maybe you could change your internet location and try again.
Has anyone else tried and not able to download?

Sathya, if you are a member, then you must remember that Challenge 2 (Andromeda Galaxy M31, and the subject of your email) is legandary, as is its video walkthrough made by Niel Heacock which is full of learning, worth watching several times.

Rahul,

The group is here
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dslr_astro_image_processing/info

Here is my recent post in the group which talks about processing the Witch Head Nebula, link to the image as well as link to the walkthrough text.


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Hello Fellow Astrophotographers

What an amazing stacked raw image, wonderful Hi-Fidelity data, which did not break down even with two aggressive stretches. Thanks Scott.

My processed photo is here: http://goo.gl/GRBt26
My workflow (in Images Plus & Photoshop) is in this folder: http://goo.gl/6mZGjJ titled C018-IC2118 ajay_talwar_attempt.txt

I have not bothered to reduce the bright star flares, I do not know how. I also forgot to go over the zoomed in image for cosmetic blemishes.

Scott, I use this lens a lot (Canon 200mm) and always wonder when is it correctly focused? Is it when the red fringe has disappeared and the blue has not appeared, or is it correctly focused when you see the least amount of red fringe around stars, like in your image?

Do you prefer using this lens full open at f/2.8 or stopped down? I have found that the sharpness of stars increases as you reduce the aperture and found f/5.6 to be the sweet spot - Your thoughts please?
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Ajay Talwar

 

Sky Photo Trip - 5th Edition
Astrophotography Workshop in the Himalayas - December 6-8, 2013
Special Highlight - Comet ISON

From: sathya kumar Prasanna <skps...@gmail.com>
To: b-...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [-BAS-] Andromeda Galaxy

[Ajay Talwar]

Oh, this is a surprise,

If you click on the links like the one I have in my email, e.g. http://goo.gl/GRBt26
you get an advertisement page, then you need to click on the 'skip advert' link on the top right.

I'll think about use goo.gl services again!

Ajay Talwar

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From: Ajay Talwar <ajayta...@yahoo.com>
To: "b-...@googlegroups.com" <b-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 11:07 PM