Been working away at this one for a while - inspired by Suavi's magnificent image a month or so ago.
Probably not finished yet, not sure if it ever will be!
Even after a whopping 30 hrs of 3nm Ha I can't get seem to get more detail without it being noisier than the MCG on Grand final day!
That elusive little chevron on the far left may be just too dim to seperate from the skyglow at home from under my LP skies.
That said, I wanted to feature the O3 spikes.
There's 11 hrs of data there too and I've attempted to do so with processing & masking etc. and added some RGB stars in to the mix as well.
That is indeed an interesting presentation of the Helix Andy. The spikes are certainly very prominent. Initially I wasn't that wrapped in the colour but it's growing on me.
I really like your image of the Helix Andy, very nicely balanced in terms of detail, colours, stars and overal impression
I had just over 50hours of Ha in my attempt at the Helix; the skies in here are quite dark but a large chunk of data was captured around the Full Moon as well. I think what helped was imaging at F/4.5 combined with 4e read noise, both helped to compensate for a small aperture and relatively short 15-min subs.
Not too bad Andy, it's coming along, the outer faint stuff is starting to come through. It's very hard to show both the OIII structure and the Ha structures, they seem to exclude each other when you try layering etc. Which telescope is that? The thin diffraction spikes look to have been added so I am thinking it's your refractor..? One thing, there appears to be a black hole lower right, the outer billowing structures down there look like they have a big chunck out of them? Flats?
Beautiful. I like the way you’ve held back the central Ha ring given how much that O3 hides in it. I guess there are some sacrifices with central Ha detail too but it’s still a compelling image!
Very eye catching and original !!
I like it!
Cheers,
Tim
Thanks Tim - it's not easy to bring something new to a classic target - glad you liked it
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Sure looks like an eye, especially the iris. Nice one.
Cheers Marc, it's a pretty amazing object and it's extraordinary that we can see the eye so clearly in O3
Quote:
Originally Posted by cometcatcher
The OIII spikes show up nicely. I like the mix of colours. I'm trying this one as well. Looks like it needs lots of time.
Thanks Kevin - it's taking forever to get the feint bits from my location, maybe you'll have more luck up there
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Those O111 spikes have shown up very nicely.
Greg.
Cheers greg, I used the NIK filters PS detail extractor to help render them more clearly
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Noisy but very promising, Andy.
Yep, just like my son's trumpet practice sessions
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
That is indeed an interesting presentation of the Helix Andy. The spikes are certainly very prominent. Initially I wasn't that wrapped in the colour but it's growing on me.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers Steve, it's an aquired taste! A fresh approach to an old favourite
Quote:
Originally Posted by JA
Well done Andy
Best
JA
Thanks JA
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir
I really like your image of the Helix Andy, very nicely balanced in terms of detail, colours, stars and overal impression
I had just over 50hours of Ha in my attempt at the Helix; the skies in here are quite dark but a large chunk of data was captured around the Full Moon as well. I think what helped was imaging at F/4.5 combined with 4e read noise, both helped to compensate for a small aperture and relatively short 15-min subs.
Thanks Suavi, with my rig it needs a bazillion hrs more data to come close to the detail in yours, so I tried a different approach - glad you liked it
Quote:
Originally Posted by troypiggo
Interesting to see a different interpretation of it.
Thanks Troy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Not too bad Andy, it's coming along, the outer faint stuff is starting to come through. It's very hard to show both the OIII structure and the Ha structures, they seem to exclude each other when you try layering etc. Which telescope is that? The thin diffraction spikes look to have been added so I am thinking it's your refractor..? One thing, there appears to be a black hole lower right, the outer billowing structures down there look like they have a big chunck out of them? Flats?
Mike
Cheers Mike - it's the RC8. I don't have a flat panel/lightbox for it yet so it may well be a flats issue - well spotted!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Benjamin
Beautiful. I like the way you’ve held back the central Ha ring given how much that O3 hides in it. I guess there are some sacrifices with central Ha detail too but it’s still a compelling image!
Thanks Benjamin, yes that was my intention - if you let all the Ha through it washes out the O3 spikes. I saw an earlier APOD version by Martin Pugh and another here by Al Sam that got me thinking about trying something different with this well imaged target. Seems to have worked, just needs yet more data. Crikey, it's now 44 hrs worth already!
so I am thinking it's your refractor..? One thing, there appears to be a black hole lower right, the outer billowing structures down there look like they have a big chunck out of them? Flats?
