Image of the Week, December 30, 2016

NGC 7331 and Companions, by Paddy Gilliland

Here we have a look at NGC 7331 and some (not so local companions) across the image many of smaller galaxies can be seen ranging from 100’s to 1000’s of light years more distance than NGC 7331. They all combine though to provide a nice image with plenty of things to see. In order to realise all the data I created variants of the luminance frame from each channel (LRGB) selectively applying local detail from each back into the master luminance frame. Each channel presented some unique detail that was ‘toned down’ through standard blending processes.

This was one of my favorite processing objects today which while it tested me was very rewarding when I saw the end results.

Image details

Imaging telescope or lens: RCOS 14.5″ @ Deep Sky West
Imaging camera: SBIG STX KAF-16803
Mount: Paramount-ME
Guiding telescope or lens: RCOS 14.5″
Software: Pixinsight 1.8
Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Astrodon Blue, Astrodon Red, Astrodon Green
Resolution: 2279×2847
Dates: Sept. 25, 2016, Oct. 22, 2016, Oct. 30, 2016, Nov. 4, 2016
Frames:
Astrodon Blue: 19×600″ bin 1×1
Astrodon Green: 21×600″ bin 1×1
Astrodon Luminance: 31×60″ bin 1×1
Astrodon Luminance: 36×600″ bin 1×1
Astrodon Red: 23×600″ bin 1×1

See this image in high resolution.

About the photographer

Paddy Gilliland
Location: United Kingdom
Astrobin, Twitter

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