M13 - Globular Cluster in Hercules

User images created with StarTools.
Post Reply
ionia23
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:39 pm

M13 - Globular Cluster in Hercules

Post by ionia23 »

The first globular cluster I ever saw with a telescope. It really messed with my head seeing this "snowball" of stars for the first time.

Object: Messier Object 13
Common Name: Hercules Cluster
Location: Tucson, AZ urban skies
Imaging Date: 04-30-2021
Filtering: None
Camera: Orion Starshoot G4 Color
Mount: Orion Atlas
Guiding: None
Telescope: Orion Skyview Pro 8 (203mm)
No focal reducer/barlow

10 x 30 second exposures (5 minutes integration data)
No darks, flats, bias frames.

Image capture in Orion Camera Studio
Debayering in FitsWork4

Debayer pattern for this camera is set in FitsWork4 as
Magenta Green
Cyan Yellow
Green Magenta
Cyan Yellow
All other options set at default

Pixel Arithmetic: Square pixels.
This is a necessity as this camera's pixel size is 8.6 x 8.3. You get all kinds of annoying horizontal lines in your debayered images if you don't do the pixel arithmetic first.

Image stacking also in FitsWork4 with 12 alignment points drawn manually. On the fly repair of hot pixels per frame. (Didn't really know about dark frames back then).

Image processing in Startools.
Final smart sharpen in Photoshop.
Attachments
04-30-2021 - M13 - Hercules Cluster - FINAL.jpg
04-30-2021 - M13 - Hercules Cluster - FINAL.jpg (215.47 KiB) Viewed 1874 times
Post Reply