M27 103 hours, Free Data, Please process and post! - Forums

Topic starter

Jul 30, 2021 · Edited: Jul 31, 2021

Hi-
Just below is a link to a .fit image of M27 that I have been working since May.
I have calibrated and stacked 1,244 subframes each 300 seconds long for about 322,000 seconds of integration time.
No other processing has been done.

This was my stab at the processing. I'm still working it. If you would like to try processing, I am giving away the data for free. This file is 720MB (61MPixels) Smaller cropped version is linked at the bottom:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AhBmgUH4reTXujbpsmFFrRF8NzHnd9W7/view?usp=sharing

I was looking to compete with the narrow band results we often see. I am not sure I succeeded. I feel others (you) could probably do better justice to the data.
One disadvantage (besides sensitivity) of the OSC is that the stars are so bright they compete with the dim OIII and dim Ha at the upper left.

Anyway, hope to see some great results!

Thanks!
-Mike

The vitals:
1240 subs, 300sec each
ASI6200MC Pro
11" RASA
Celestron LP 2" filter in place
1.252"/pixel, Bortle5-6, Southwest Longmont, Colorado

Beaware, the above file is 700MB, because the camera has 61MP and the field is huge. If you would just like to try the cropped size (37MB):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nMEbxNwk7eyvhZfVxKeqMLGC3vHvoyuO/view?usp=sharing

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wsg

Jul 30, 2021

Hi Mike. I have taken a couple of minutes to process the smaller version of you M27. First off this project contains a vast amount of data and you are to be commended for your dedication to the task. However a OSC does not do it's job the same way as narrow band and indeed becomes it's own worst enemy in that type process. The very beginning of the Lum and faint nebulosity type aspects you are trying to achieve are barely perceptible in your integrated image and bloated and over saturated stars you have are the product of stretching the image beyond what is available to be stretched. Much darker skies, better seeing and more precise exposure with your 6200 might improve your final outcome where repeated hours of the same conditions have not but the image you have available is very good on it's own.

scott

https://astrob.in/gc78px/0/

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Mike

Topic starter

Jul 30, 2021

Thanks, Scott.

When you say "more precise exposure", is that matching exposure time to skyfog or…?

Thanks,
Mike

Jeff Kisslinger

Jul 31, 2021 · Edited: Jul 31, 2021

Great looking data, thanks for sharing! The top link (700MB) is for the Headphone Nebula and the bottom (37MB) is for M27.

I have to ask about your computer specs and program you use for integration. I can't imagine how long the calibration/integration process took you with the amount of data you had. I have an Intel Core i-5 1035G1 laptop with 32GB RAM and running WBPP in Pixinsight with data from an ASI2600MC/MM takes a while when processing multiple nights.

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wsg

Jul 31, 2021

Mike. Yes, in my experience with my OSC cameras I have found that repeated lights with the same camera settings under the same conditions yield the same results, so 1x bad is the same as 100x bad to put it simply. Sometimes changing gain or exposure with OSC will yield results useful to the endeavor but the main beauty with OSC is producing decent results in average or below average conditions in a short amount of time.

Björn Arnold

Jul 31, 2021

Hi Mike,

This is what I had made out of your data (cropped file): https://astrob.in/q0gej3/0/

In your image meta data, you don't provide the gain setting. I assume you're using gain 0? This target absolutely requires maximum dynamic range. A narrowband filter would probably help you a lot. If you want to catch the faint outer regions, you'll compete with all the stars if you use a broad band filter.

Cheers,
Björn

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Mike

Topic starter

Jul 31, 2021

Fixed the bad link to the full frame…Sorry!

-Mike

Mike

Topic starter

Jul 31, 2021

I'm using a I9 desktop. Basically, process on a night by night basis, using weighted averaging to make 21 master subs, then weight and combine them.

The gain was 0. Camera temperature was 0C.

Tayson

Jul 31, 2021 · Edited: Aug 1, 2021

my processing,
https://we.tl/t-DXwL09ljve

Ruben Barbosa

Jul 31, 2021 · Edited: Jul 31, 2021

My draft processing

The stars are almost ok
The nebula needs more work to bring the interior details.

ROBERT FELMLY JR

Jul 31, 2021

Thanks for supplying the data and letting us play with it. Here's my go at it. I processed most of it in Astro Pixel Processor and then tweaked up the color in Photoshop. I also have the Star Spikes pro plugin for Photoshop that I enjoy adding to the brighter stars. I uploaded a PNG of the image in my google drive. I also saved a TIFF too if you want it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v4Vz-5K19vmb0QjOeljxvk4roUzKpVRR/view?usp=sharing

Curious to see what others make from it as well.

Bob

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Andreas Eleftheriou

Aug 1, 2021

Hi Mike,
This is a quick processing of your excellent data of 103 hours of M27 with the ASI6200MC Pro OSC. Your data is rich and the color balance was quite easy. I have apply non-aggressive stretch an sharpening and no noise-reduction at all. I have selectively (with masking) increase the saturation of the nebula and the stars, avoiding to add color to the background. I have also applied masked HDRM and Local Histogram Equalization to the Nebula only.
I prefer the non-aggressive post processing in rich datasets as your own :-)

Links:
https://www.astrobin.com/khok14/B/
https://www.astrobin.com/khok14/0/

Regarding the faint outer shells, you will need to take long exposures with Ha and O3 filters. You can check my latest M27 image with 900secs/17.5 hours of Ha and O3 exposures in order to reveal the outer shells.
Link: https://www.astrobin.com/yj2k0r/

Thanks for the opportunity to process your data,
I hope you like my rendition,
CS,
Andreas

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sky-watcher (johny)

Aug 1, 2021

Hi Mike,
Here my quick processing.
Processed with Fitswork and PS cs4

cs johny

SemiPro

IOTD Staff

Aug 1, 2021

Greetings from forest fire hell, Mike. Here is my take on your wonderful data:

Mike's M27

Marcus Jungwirth

Aug 1, 2021 · Edited: Aug 1, 2021

Hy Mike,
thank you to give us a chance to process your excellent Data!

This is my version.

CS Marcus

Tom Gray

Aug 1, 2021

And here's my effort on the cropped version using a standard workflow in Startool v1.7 - what a joy to work on such clean data; I must sort out my flat frames!

Scotty Bishop

Aug 1, 2021 · Edited: Aug 1, 2021

Here's the best I could do in a limited amount of time on the full size one. I will take a crack on the smaller one later on.

https://www.astrobin.com/2uyrlc/

Processing was in Photoshop 2021 after a conversion to tif and a gradient reduction in APP

Bob Lockwood

Aug 1, 2021 · Edited: Aug 1, 2021

Hi Mike,This is what I came up with using the large file. Data I think was very good, I do think you could have used 1000 frames less, but that’s just me. This was just opened in CCDStack and saved as tiff, then opened in PSCC and tweaked to get to this point. Cropped.

Mike

Topic starter

Aug 1, 2021

Wow-
Thanks everyone! These are impressive!

I took so many subs as kind of an experiment to see what it would take to bring out the faintest details. Just might have to invest in some narrow band gear.

Thank you all for your efforts on this! Look forward to seeing even more.

Thanks,
Mike

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Ruben Barbosa

Aug 1, 2021 · Edited: Aug 2, 2021

2nd try: https://www.astrobin.com/3v50cv/

SemiPro

IOTD Staff

Aug 1, 2021

You know guys, I think what Mike has really managed to show us here is that given the same (great) quality data, everyone can come up with their own interpretations and they all look pretty darn good!

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Bob Lockwood

Aug 2, 2021

Mike:
One disadvantage (besides sensitivity) of the OSC is that the stars are so bright they compete with the dim OIII and dim Ha at the upper left.

Mike,

When you state (dim Olll and Ha) Did you take sub frames with a separate filter for Olll/Ha? Did you combine them with the rgb for the single fits file you asked us to process? If you have a separate fit file for them, can you attach it as a file of it's own. They should not be added to the rgb info and made into a single file
to work with as you don't have any control over them, where if they were individual files, you have control of each one while processing.

John Hayes

Frequent contributor

Aug 2, 2021

After taking on M27 a number of years ago, I concluded that it is among the easiest targets to acquire and among the hardest to process. My processing effort wound up taking almost 6 months before becoming my first and, so far, only APOD. (https://www.astrobin.com/256348/E/). I no longer enter my images and as they say, you can't win if you don't play...but maybe someday I'll snag another image that seems worthy. Anyway, you guys are doing a wonderful job with it. It looks like some good data.

John

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Chester Hall-Fernandez

Aug 2, 2021

Nice data, interested as to why it doesn't show much of the outer wings though, considering over a hundred hours of exposure. Is it because it was done without proper NB filters?

ChrisG_BNE

Aug 2, 2021

Here is my render. Very nice stars on this all over the field. I cropped it down a bit. What I am most interested in is the tiny planetary nebula in the centre at the very bottom of the frame.