Possibly not a wow image for this posting but a respectable open cluster all the same. Data grabbed for this one during busy moon period with a view to keeping our imaging rig as busy as practicable
NGC6124 is an open cluster in Scorpius approximately 18,600 light years distance consisting of around 100 stars. It makes for a nice contrast between the blue/white stars and the scattering of orange/red companions. Positioned against the backdrop of the Milky Way there is a busy star field and dark nebula throughout. I was kind of expecting the background star field to be more dense but it just didn't turn out that way.
Perhaps you've been a bit too noble and "true to the light", and there's room for increasing the blues, increasing the saturation, tweaking the black point, something like the attached?
Tell me to go put my head in a frying pan if appropriate.
Perhaps you've been a bit too noble and "true to the light", and there's room for increasing the blues, increasing the saturation, tweaking the black point, something like the attached?
Tell me to go put my head in a frying pan if appropriate.
Best,
Mike
That is much better Mike and please do not put your head in a frying pan
I seemed to be struggling with the aesthetics of this image and you are probably right that I was being a little to ‘hands off’. I’m away for a couple of days at the moment so will do some tweaks when I get back.
I like this Rodney. But my first thought was you're trying to be "natural" with your treatment of colour because on my screen I barely see any blue at all. Then I saw Mike B.J.s comment and I agree with him that the image would be more compelling with better colour differentiation.
I like this Rodney. But my first thought was you're trying to be "natural" with your treatment of colour because on my screen I barely see any blue at all. Then I saw Mike B.J.s comment and I agree with him that the image would be more compelling with better colour differentiation.
Still, a nice rendition.
Cheers, Marcus
Thanks Marcus. I'm still pondering on the star colour issue actually and will probe into this a little more. Might finish up with a discussion on star colours in asto images though which could be dangerous territory to explore
I've made some small tweaks to the image to cut back the black point a smidge and to tweak the star colours. This version is certainly more aesthetically pleasing, to me at least, and I don't think that I would be wanting to push it any further.
The star colours are still an interesting point of discussion and I want to lurch into a discussion on this to help me understand it a bit better.
I am concluding that the white/blue stars in the image are, just that, white/blue. Checking in Stellarium for most of the bright white/blue stars in the core of the cluster reports that they have a colour index in the range of 0.50 to 0.60. I haven't found a definitive resource yet to help me conclude categorically that a colour index in this range should result in the colours that I am seeing but indications are that this should be so. I have attached an annotated version of the image which includes the B-V colour index for a number of the stars (information extracted from Stellarium).
Comments from other persons on this forum that are far more learned in these matters would be much appreciated
