As Mr Hopkins once said about another eagle, Sheer plod makes plow-down sillion shine. In our case, that was getting enough SII over the last 4 nights for it to be grit-free without noise reduction. About half the data are from 2015.
At this focal length, we see the Eagle as being the big black beaky thing covering much of the top third of the image, with its pointy sharp beak wind-hovering over the Star Queen on her throne.
Always a curiosity is the giant yellow-green and steaming hot pineapple ring at top right, sitting on the Eagle's outstretched wing.
Others with sharp eyes will also see the side-on Dragon, to our left of the Eagle's beak. The dragon is giving its tasty dark-haired trainer a pre-dinner slurp. Even sharper eyes will see the Reluctant Parachutist, about 4 o'clock from the Star Queen. Sadly, the parachutist's canopy has failed to open. We also draw your attention to the fact that the Star Queen is holding a very fashionable black leather thigh-boot, which for some reason is dripping wet. Water is running profusely from the toe. You can't get good help.
Best,
Mike and Trish
H-alpha 7 hrs, OIII 10 hrs, SII 14 hrs. Aspen CG16M on 20" PlaneWave. Field approx 36 min arc.
Processing with GoodLook 64:
- Black point, decon, colour balance, arcsinh stretch
- Go starless, wavelet sharpen, re-tweak colour
- Brighten the darker outer regions
- Put H-alpha stars only back as white
Congratulations !. What an incredible result - Dark / sinister, creamy and , detailed.
The diffraction spikes are amazingly insignificant. I'm curious as to whether they've been processed out, or that's just the way they come, some sort of product of the large aperture scope v thin spider. Hubble - eat your heart out.
Congratulations !. What an incredible result - Dark / sinister, creamy and , detailed.
The diffraction spikes are amazingly insignificant. I'm curious as to whether they've been processed out, or that's just the way they come, some sort of product of the large aperture scope v thin spider. Hubble - eat your heart out.
Well done and something for anyone to aim for
Best
JA
Thanks, J. Nice to hear from you.
We don't do anything special to the diffraction spikes. For us, they are only ever very marked on extremely bright stars, so we miss out on that cute Christmas Card effect.
Couple of minor issues...but meah, who cares, overall quite magnificent when not pixel peeping (Ill take my medication) and yes, lots of wonderful shapes of all sorts of things in that
Ok.... here's some well earned subservience ...
Mike
PS....have I ever mentioned I'd love your telescope..?
Oh and BTW that is both a scientifically meaningful and aesthetically pleasing palette!
Last edited by strongmanmike; 23-06-2017 at 06:07 PM.
Yep - that's the money shot. Not 100% happy with the stars but I've grown accustomed to RGB stars in NB images. Overall though a great image with definite resemblance to the classic Hubble shot.
Couple of minor issues...but meah, who cares, overall quite magnificent when not pixel peeping (Ill take my medication) and yes, lots of wonderful shapes of all sorts of things in that
Ok.... here's some well earned subservience ...
Mike
PS....have I ever mentioned I'd love your telescope..?
Oh and BTW that is both a scientifically meaningful and aesthetically pleasing palette!
Gee, shucks, pshaw ... feeling suitably .
Thanks Mike!
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Boy, that really is superb.
Greg.
Thanks, Greg. We've been trying to do faint galaxies in Virgo early in the night before the moon comes up, and we've programmed this lot in for after midnight, after moonrise, after slew limit on the galaxies, whichever came first. Some images got chucked out due to cloud, but it slowly accumulated all by itself. The biggest problem was residual images of the focusing star.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
Yep - that's the money shot. Not 100% happy with the stars but I've grown accustomed to RGB stars in NB images. Overall though a great image with definite resemblance to the classic Hubble shot.
Cheers
Steve
Thanks Steve! Looks like we're going to have to take some RGB stars over new moon, and learn to drop them into the starless image. Wish us luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainjoo
Wow, colours here are very pleasing. Great result.
Wow M&T! That's a wonderful image! Detail at full res is excellent! Colours are understated (IMO) but good - it has a dark, rather brooding ambience which is compelling. When you zoom out it takes on a 3D look too - nice!
Definition of pshaw:
—used to express irritation, disapproval, contempt, or disbelief
So which is it?......
Whoops! Didn't know that. None of the above. Attempt at something like thank you, with a Daffy-Duck-like shy and self-conscious but deep and genuine delight. Here's a longer version:
We're delighted and amazed that this version of the Eagle is finally getting close. It's been a very long road for me, trying to find a good balance between oversharpening and leaving worms or a fake glassy look, versus leaving it looking like we've got smeary glasses, leaving it overwhelmed by H-alpha and Kermit green versus ending up with gritty SII and magenta rings, an especially difficult problem for a colourblind astrophotographer. You've been wonderfully helpful and generous and gentle with your ongoing advice and encouragement when we felt like giving up in confusion, and for that and other things we thank you. You are a great tutor.
Thanks also to many others who with advice both gentle and barbed, clear and confusing, have gotten us facing more or less in the right direction.
One the most effective shot's ever taken of this subject!
Dark, terrifying, brooding, majestic, poetic...almost religious. Definitely three dimensional.
. 
