Resolving M31 Core

[wrz0170]

Hi everyone,

     I recently imaged M31 for the first time and feel that the core is slightly overblown and not quite enough detail in the dust lanes.  It was imaged in LRGB, 60@ 120” in each channel. About 8 hours. However, with Subframe Selector, I got slightly reduced total number of frames.

Is there anything I can use to bring out the core and maybe tweak some detail in the dust lanes? 

Image here: 05297F2A-089E-4DFD-AC2D-D9B603DFCBD4 by William Zuk, on Flickr


Thank you for looking! 

William

[pfile]

yes you can try the HDRMultiscaleTransform process to compress the dynamic range of the bright core.

rob

[wrz0170]

yes you can try the HDRMultiscaleTransform process to compress the dynamic range of the bright core.

rob

Rob,

   Thank you!  Will give it a go.

William

[Ron Kramer]

your core doesn't look blown out to me. Looks fine.  You won't resolve more detail in it without more scope and more time. That core is a mass of unresolved stars.  HDR multscale will muddy up the core for you but why?  It's not overblown. I'm sure if you check the level of the area it won't be 255.  (let me look) brb  253, 252, 250
right where it should be.

More detail in the dust lanes will require more subs and some sharpening.

[monkeybird747]

Try the DarkStructureEnhance script for your dust lanes. Default amount is pretty good. Try lowering it to suit taste. Easily overdone.

If you're worried about your core you could do as mentioned above, or shoot some more frames at a much shorter exposure, then use HDRComposition to create a HDR image. Works well.

[wrz0170]

your core doesn't look blown out to me. Looks fine.  You won't resolve more detail in it without more scope and more time. That core is a mass of unresolved stars.  HDR multscale will muddy up the core for you but why?  It's not overblown. I'm sure if you check the level of the area it won't be 255.  (let me look) brb  253, 252, 250
right where it should be.

More detail in the dust lanes will require more subs and some sharpening.

Thanks for taking a look!   I appreciate it.  Ahh, the devil is in the details I guess.  In this case some more time behind the scope. 

[wrz0170]

Try the DarkStructureEnhance script for your dust lanes. Default amount is pretty good. Try lowering it to suit taste. Easily overdone.

If you're worried about your core you could do as mentioned above, or shoot some more frames at a much shorter exposure, then use HDRComposition to create a HDR image. Works well.

Yep, I used DSE with the default settings.   I read a little on creating an HDR image. I may try this route the next time around.   Thanks!