Well the weather this past month hasn't exactly been great for imaging down here in Cornwall, but then it's too light now anyway! This last couple of day I decided to revisit the processing of a couple of my images this year. I've spent a bit of time looking at the imaging processing fundamentals in a bit more detail so I was keen to see if I could drag a half decent image out of the data that I had gathered. I started with M81 where I had got some RGB data, but felt that it wasn't very good. Having spent an evening colour combining and luminence layering I did get an image I was pleased with. There were some tricky light pollution gradients and uncorrected flat field issues but it seemed to turn out OK. After this and another go at M101 I have learnt that for good LRGB imaging I definately need to bin the RGB channels 2x2, and ensure good focus and calibration frames. Going forward I need to get some more data and keep practising!

It would be good to gather some RGB data for M51 if we get a clear night. After the summer I aim to acquire RGB data for some of my H-alpha images, and try filtered luminence layering.