Astronomy Tools $21.95 for a set of 34 PS Scripts/Functions.
Whilst improving on my imaging and tracking the night sky with my 1100d and now 200p mounted on an HEQ5, I have constantly been battling with GIMP and Photoshop to improve the look of my images (after stacking).
I came across Astronomy Tools which for the $22 I had to try.
First under the test was the image of the M13 (Hercules Global Cluster). Below is are 2 images (both started out as 39 x 20s lights + darks & bias subs – stacked in DSS).
The first image is after an hour of trial and error within PS…looks nice, but I could not tell you how I got there !
(click for full JPG image)
The following image is 5 minutes work with the Astronomy Tools… im sure with a further attempt I could improve this more.
I like this image as it has more ‘colour’ within the stars themselves with slight diffraction’s. The central area of the cluster all looks less of a haze with individual stars being more prominent.
(click for full JPG image)
M13
M52
M31
For a quick test run I have happy with the results so far, obviously as I learn more about the specific functions I should see even more improvements…. next I’ll be testing these on a range of images (M45 and of course the moon)
Stayed tuned.