Gum 15

[Paul Haese]

I was lucky enough to pick up the data this Lunar cycle on this object. Not before I had to change the old fan on the STXL, which gave up the ghost. One day it was working and the next the camera would just stop cooling at around 0 and -8C. I have jury rigged a temporary tacho fan whilst I await the arrival of the correct size and output fan. That means only imaging at -15C. An interesting proposition in SA at present with many night time temps of the last week and a half being at somewhere between 23-33C.

This image is of Gum 15 which is located in the constellation of Vela. It is a star forming region and is commonly referred to as the Southern Trifid. The bright star in the centre is actually a double star (which can be seen easily in Ha data but not the broad band light) which is shaping the dust and gas within the region due to its strong winds.

The image is an integration of 25 hours which has about 12 hours of Ha data. I also took luminance to add to the image and give it a much nicer overall look.

Click here for the larger image

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's a very cool shot. Not many RGB around on this one. Love the colours.

[Peter Ward]

An exceptional image Paul.

I really like how you have processed this one. Great dynamic range yet has a very natural look...respects the light and then some

[topheart]

Stunning image Paul!
Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

A very nice image Paul, nice delineation between the layers of emission and reflection nebulosity

Mike

[DavidU (Dave)]

Very very cool image Paul.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

A beautiful image Paul. As others have said, the colours of both stars and nebulosity are very engaging.

We've only ever done it in H-alpha, where the most notable feature was the burned and blackened "gum" tree, if you'll excuse the pun. Your combined LRGB is far more interesting. Well done!

Best,
Mike

[glend (Glen)]

Very nice Paul, as always. I have imaged that object some years ago and should get back to it. Like your colours.

[gregbradley]

Really well done Gum 15 Paul. Nicely processed and some faint blue streaks of gas that I hadn't noticed before.

Greg.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Absolutely beautiful.

A hard one for me to image due to cloudy time of year.

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments and compliments.

Originally Posted by Placidus

A beautiful image Paul. As others have said, the colours of both stars and nebulosity are very engaging.

We've only ever done it in H-alpha, where the most notable feature was the burned and blackened "gum" tree, if you'll excuse the pun. Your combined LRGB is far more interesting. Well done!

Best,
Mike

Thanks Mike, whilst the Ha data does help in this image I think the real guts of it is in the LRGB data. Normally this is not the case but in this instance that seems that the predominant detail is coming from the luminance and blue channels. I remember thinking when I imaged it last time that it needed a larger scale to show off some of the finer detail better.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Really well done Gum 15 Paul. Nicely processed and some faint blue streaks of gas that I hadn't noticed before.

Greg.

Thanks Greg, both the luminance and blue channels have lots of interesting streaks in them. I was happy to see that I replicated the image only to a larger scale than previously. It does look very similar to the Trifid and has some really interesting aspects to it than other nebulae just don't. Those streaks look similar to the ones in NGC6559 near the Lagoon Nebula. I imagine if Jay Gabany imaged it the detail would look more enhanced than my version.

[Atmos (Colin)]

Lovely result Paul, the colour and depth is exquisite The what appears to be blue sprites in the lower half of the image make it for me

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Very nice contrast between the light and dark nebulosity Paul. You’ve also done well with the reflection nebulosity. On the picture I took it required an eye of faith to see it. Detail in the nebulosity is nice and sharp.
Geoff

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
that's an amazing result.
Amateur astronomers are setting the bar higher and higher.
I suppose the 25 hours really added up.

I had to go all the way to ESO to find something better
but even then it's not that much better:
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1420a/


cheers
Allan