M56 - a woman's touch

I caught this one for the first time. Being a small cluster, it fits nicely in the FOV. 44 images of 30 seconds each.

Sometimes, it seems that posting up here doesn't do an image much justice. Fiona reckoned this was nice - personally, I'd crank up the levels a bit to show a bucket load more dim stars. But then, she's the boss... and probably right!

Cheers

Dave McD

Nice image Dave!

I was just observing M56 tonight myself..one of my favourite clusters.

Nice capture

Really good image Dave. I have seen other images of this globular cluster from much larger instruments and your one compares favourably. Keep it up!

Eamonn A

Nice image Dave, M56 is a good cluster to observe, easy to find too! That shot represents it weel, as it is so high up during evening hours at the moment.

Keith.

Hi Dave,

Nice core detail.

Does boosting the level introduce noticable graduation in the background?

I try to minimize background in images I process, but sometimes having a bit of a gradiant is the lesser of two evils

Later,

Jed.

Hi Jed - surprisingly, there is no discernable gradient in this image. Cranking up the levels just burns out the core of the cluster though. But no sign of a gradient!

Of course, with the levels boosted you can then see myriads of dimmer stars further from the core, which I prefer... I know there are techniques for reducing this 'burning out' effect - eg the Orion nebula, but clusters are harder to apply it to.

Personally, like you, I too concentrate on the subject rather than the background and I have posted images with severe gradients - simply because the foreground subject is what I want people to see. Of course, where possible, I try to minimise or remove any gradient effects. I guess it boils down to personal preference and the time you're prepared to invest in processing

By the way, with M56 so high up as Keith says, gradients (due to light pollution) are a rarity. Flats can rid of any inherent gradient within your imaging system but for light pollution, you can use filters or download gradient removal software. There's a couple of packages folks are raving about but since I'm more concerned with the science than very photogenic images, I haven't pursued this course.

If you save the image and give it a go in photoshop or similar, you'll see what I mean!

Cheers

Dave Mcd