Master Classes 

of

Astrophotography

 

 

 

NGC 6888: Jellyfish in a Cosmic Ocean


This is now a pretty old video! It does illustrate that good images can be made from terrible locations!

Published 09/23/2018

This video, part of the PixInsight edition of the Cosmic Canvas, primarily uses PI to process the data. Access to this tutorial is already available to members of PI Horizons. 

This tutorial totals 3 Hours of instruction as well as the raw data for NGC 6888.  The data is provided by the generosity of Ed Stuckey. He acquired HaLRGB imagery from his home in Detroit, Michigan. As such this example serves to demonstrate what can be done with "signal poor" data acquired from challenging locations- using the powerful tools of Pixinsight. 

Camera: SQI 683 wsg-8  pixel size: 5.4 microns

Astrodon HaLRGB filters

Stellarvue 130 Triple Achromat with focal reducer (Focal length 655mm @f/5)

1.64"/pixel plate scale

Download the raw data for NGC 6888 here.

Section 1
  • Introduction
  • Examination of Data
Section 2
  • BPP 
  • Image Registration
Section 3
  • Local Normalization
  • Image Integration of Luminance
Section 4
  • Image Integration of Ha, R,G,B
Section 5
  • Photometric Color Calibration
Section 6
  • Dynamic Background Extraction
Section 7
  • H-alpha Blending (for luminance)
Section 8
  • Noise Reduction (RGB)
  • RGB Adjustments
Section 9
  • LRGB Combination
  • Specialized Color Adjustments
Section 10
  • Noise Reduction (near final image)
  • Final Flourish