M3 in Canes Venatici 
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Scope: C8 f/10; Location: Del Mar, CA; 6 May. 2004; Camera: ToUcam SC3

Exposure: 12 x 32 sec Luminance exposures with IR Block Filter; 10 x 40 sec with Orion SkyGlo filter, 12 x 30 sec RGB 

Processing: Images were captured in K3CCDTools. Aligned/stacked in Registax and saved as FITS. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. SkyGlo Luminance exposure was normal combined with core mask to desaturate and sharpen the core in the Luminance channel. Luminance and Color FITS were combined in Photoshop with Luminance Layering. Color balancing and final touches in Photoshop. SGBNR was used to smooth background noise on the luminance channel and the final result. Resized to approximately 800x600.

This image was a guided image and taken at a fairly small field of view so guiding was critical for this image. Earlier wider field views at 30' and 72' can be seen below. This image Horizontal FOV is about 8'

M3 in wider field

 

Scope: Starmax127  f/4.3 Location: Del Mar CA   5/18/2003  Camera: ToUcam SC3

Exposure: 20 x 20 sec  and 24 x 7 sec  frames with IR block filter, 16 x 8 sec each RGB filters

Processing: Captured aligned and stacked in K3CCDTools in 2x mode with L,R,G,B saved as FITs. LRGB masters were registered and combined in Astroart. Some Lowpass filtering was applied followed by un-sharp mask on the Luminance frame. LRGB result was saved as a BMP. The result BMP was level adjusted for smoother background in Photoshop

This image was on of the first LRGB images taken on the Starmax scope (taken the same night as M13 with identical settings and similar processing). There are two luminance exposures with the long exposure for depth and the shorter (about 1/3 the time) used to enhance core detail otherwise washed out in the longer exposure. Color was increased in saturation for visual effect.  Horizontal FOV is 30'

North is up in this image. The wide field image below, north is to the right (regrettably). The FOV close up is indicated in the widefield below.

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M3 in very wide field (very early image)

Scope: ST80  f/2.5 Location: Culp Valley - Anza Borrego CA   3/8/2003  Camera: Vesta 690

Exposure: 8 x 150 sec  and 12 x 55 sec color frames with IR block filter

To avoid getting a washed out center of the cluster while still getting some depth in the surrounding field, 3 different exposures were taken. However, I only used a 55 sec and 150 sec frame exposure. The shorter exposure was used to de-saturate the center of the cluster on the 150 sec image. Horizontal FOV is 72'

 

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