Need help with 2,5h M81 and M82

[tardy flicker]

Hi,
I got some nice data of M81 and M82, but I'm kinda bad at editting. Can someone show me an example of what they are able to do with data like this?

Link to the stacked photo:
https://we.tl/t-OzEarCmQ1R

Info:
Cam: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Filter: Optolong L-Pro

Light: 53x 180s
Dark: 10
Flat: 10

[coral acorn]

Have you considered a coma corrector?

[tardy flicker]

Wow what, is that my data?

That was really fast, may i ask what software you used?

Yeah, it's on my wishlist!

[coral acorn]

Ok so I used pixinsight, but just because i am more familiar with it

[coral acorn]

yup 😄

[tardy flicker]

Awesome!

Looks like i still have a lot to learn

[coral acorn]

There always is

[tardy flicker]

@coral acorn I gave it another shot. still got some noise, but i can can live with that

[coral acorn]

Nice

Maybe try not to make it that black

But it's really nice

[tardy flicker]

is the grey stuff interstellar dust or light pollution?

[coral acorn]

Probably just light pollution

You would only get the IFN dust with tons of exposure

[gleaming root]

Would it be ok if I shared my processing of your data (Like in my other discord servers and on Instagram)? I still want to give you credit for the data, so if you're ok with me sharing please let me know how I can credit you.

I'm still figuring out AP etiquette, so please correct me if that's wrong 😅

[tardy flicker]

Yeah sure! You can tag me if you want. My astro insta is CVZ_Astrophotography

[gleaming root]

aight ty!

[brave briar]

@tardy flicker gave it ago! Forgot to do it starless so it came out quite bad imo (the stars only) but ill have a go again soon and ill remember to use Starnet lol

[tardy flicker]

Looks great! Got a lot less noise than mine and a more realistic background

[brave briar]

Thanks what do you use for processing? I may be able to help you out (:

[tardy flicker]

Deepskystacker -> Siril (Background extraction) -> GIMP

[brave briar]

Ok I can help you with siril as DSS is just for stacking

Tip for background for gimp aswell

Give me 2 seconds and I’ll @ you (:

Ok for backgrounds keep an eye on the histogram. If the histogram goes over one of the sides its called clipping which means your loosing data in dark or bright backgrounds (you probably wont have bright backgrounds as a issue)

And this is not clipped

so you can see the stretch isnt clipping on the sides

This is as dark as i could go without clipping for a dark background

even then it might be slightly clipped

[tardy flicker]

so it's okey if the image background is a bit grey?

[brave briar]

yep! Space isnt actually black black which is why the backgrounds cant be fully black without clipping data

[tardy flicker]

yea that's true

[brave briar]

Heres also what i found was best for background extraction

[tardy flicker]

Looks great! I will give it another shot

[brave briar]

K if u need help just @ me and ill help if i can (:

[tardy flicker]

thanks mate

[tardy flicker]

okey okey okey, i made another one without clipping black

And i used some masks to edit both galaxies a different way

[brave briar]

Much nicer! Not clipped either for what I can see aswell the purple is really nice but a little too strong I can see some over saturated pixels but other than that it’s super nice!