In many mono pictures of star clusters without nebulously, such as the Double Cluster or a globular cluster, the imager says they captured luminance data. Is there any point in this or is it a waste? There is no detail in a star cluster. Wouldn’t RGB suffice?
Why do people shoot luminance for star clusters?
Engaging
Hi Dan,
The type of object doesn't necessarily matter that much. It's about what faint details you want to image. If the imager also wants to have fainter stars coming out against sky background, then a higher SNR is important. That's where the L filter helps.
CS!
Björn
The type of object doesn't necessarily matter that much. It's about what faint details you want to image. If the imager also wants to have fainter stars coming out against sky background, then a higher SNR is important. That's where the L filter helps.
CS!
Björn
Well Written Concise
Background galaxies, if there are any, would be my motivation for shooting some luminance.
Well Written
This makes more sense. So it seems for globular clusters, lum can be desirable to get more light from faint stars and to include background galaxies. After doing some more digging, I was able to find some pictures of the Double Cluster with just RGB, and I don't see that anything is lost by leaving L out.
For the double cluster in particular, there are enough bright stars that leaving out the L seems preferable. Nobody wants to see overexposed cores on all the brighter stars. The main decision to be made is whether you want to shoot some H-alpha to add to your RGB data, as the double cluster is surrounded by faint H-alpha emissions.
Well Written Insightful Respectful Concise
You can do it either way. With 1x1 lum +2x2 RGB one is relying on the Lum to dermine Magnitude (value) and resolution. 1x1 RGB will render more colorful stars because the Lum channel will not wash out the color. I have even done 1x1 RGB on bright nebula at a dark site.
However, a mono Lun is easier to process and control. And then just using the 2x2 RGB to just color the image.
I pesonaly can't do LRGB or RGB at my home Bortle 7 site. When at a dark site, time is crucial. Going with 2x2 RGB saves time.
Lynn K.
However, a mono Lun is easier to process and control. And then just using the 2x2 RGB to just color the image.
I pesonaly can't do LRGB or RGB at my home Bortle 7 site. When at a dark site, time is crucial. Going with 2x2 RGB saves time.
Lynn K.
Helpful