The Smoking Man - Scene 2

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Can you see him? The Smoking man form the X-Files!
His face is seen in profile, lurking bottom left of frame, surrounded by whips of smoke & mist

Feeling relieved that I've finally got the Tak 130 & 6162 camera just about aligned 100% after dealing with a nightmare of tilt & eccentricity errors in manufacturing.

Pixel peepers will notice a tiny bit of distortion on the stars at the very bottom right of the frame in the HIGH RES version- man these full frame camera sensors are demanding!

The big Feathertouch focuser is very nice, but sadly this one was out of square on almost every surface by up to 100 microns in all different directions.

Anyway, it's all re-machined now thanks to ASV member Stefan Buda with his precise lathe work, to within 10 microns and the difference is huge!

approx 2 hrs ea Ha, O3, S2 - 20mins ea RGB
Chroma Filters
From my Backyard in Melbourne.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Question is, what are YOU smoking Andy? I can't see the smoking man but I can see an excellent image!

[multiweb (Marc)]

I like the colors but there's something fishy on the highres. Star profiles are a little flat and there's selective over sharpening/posterization (or noise) in some of the nebulosity. Looks alright at lower res. IMHO I reckon a more subtle processing would do the data some good. Field looks ok now so you seem to have that corrector sorted out.

[Bart]

I think I can see what Marc is talking about however; being the novice that I am I am unable to comment apart from....WOW.....

[gregbradley]

An interesting framing a dramatic colour scheme.

Stars are looking good. That last little bit in the bottom right would be tilt and quite minor.

A few warts on this one on the high res but lots of sharp detail.

You're getting your setup singing here.

Greg.

[spiezzy]

I can't see what Marc is seeing but that is my untrained eyes i think it is a cracking image great colour palette the stars look nice and sharp even on the edge to me again untrained eyes and the detail is nice and crisp .
well done Andy
cheers Pete

[Camissa (Ecki)]

Great image with a lot of depth!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

So I guess that's a smooook'en image

I do like it Andy and the star shapes look damn good to me it's back to your traditional style but I do see what Marc is talk'in bout.

I also see a very similarly composed scene to many Witch Head nebula looking at Rigel images.

Mike

[Atmos (Colin)]

It’s a stunning image but I’m with Marc, it breaks down a bit at high res. Not sure if it’s a part of the noise reduction or sharpening but the same thing can happen if the wrong dark setting is used during deconvolution.

[codemonkey (Lee)]

A fresh perspective on a common target. I didn't even recognise it and had no idea where it was until I saw the title on Astrobin. Well done Andy!

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Question is, what are YOU smoking Andy? I can't see the smoking man but I can see an excellent image!

Cheers Marcus - Maybe I was smoking the same stuff the guys from the AAO were on when they named the "Running Chicken" neb.

Originally Posted by multiweb

I like the colors but there's something fishy on the highres. Star profiles are a little flat and there's selective over sharpening/posterization (or noise) in some of the nebulosity. Looks alright at lower res. IMHO I reckon a more subtle processing would do the data some good. Field looks ok now so you seem to have that corrector sorted out.

Thanks Marc - not making excuses but the limited data was pushed pretty hard to get the colour palette where I wanted it, so several photons were likely harmed in the process!

Same for the stars, there was just 20 mins data per channel from light pollutionville. To be honest, I was just happy to knock out an image after months of tedious testing!

Originally Posted by Bart

I think I can see what Marc is talking about however; being the novice that I am I am unable to comment apart from....WOW.....

Thanks Bart! Glad you enjoyed the image

Originally Posted by gregbradley

An interesting framing a dramatic colour scheme. Stars are looking good. That last little bit in the bottom right would be tilt and quite minor. A few warts on this one on the high res but lots of sharp detail. You're getting your setup singing here.
Greg.

it's getting there now Greg, not completely out of the woods yet though. We're now thinking there's a small mis-collimation issue as well as the aforementioned tilt.
Thanks for the nice encouraging feedback though!

Originally Posted by spiezzy

I can't see what Marc is seeing but that is my untrained eyes i think it is a cracking image great colour palette the stars look nice and sharp even on the edge to me again untrained eyes and the detail is nice and crisp .
well done Andy
cheers Pete

Cheers Pete, was fun to revisit this guy after five years, still lots to learn!

Originally Posted by Camissa

Great image with a lot of depth!

Thanks Camissa!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

So I guess that's a smooook'en image

I do like it Andy and the star shapes look damn good to me it's back to your traditional style but I do see what Marc is talk'in bout.

I also see a very similarly composed scene to many Witch Head nebula looking at Rigel images.

Mike

Hey Mike, thanks for dropping by and yes - I feel like I'm getting back on the horse again now - and I see the Witch Head reference too!

Originally Posted by Atmos

It’s a stunning image but I’m with Marc, it breaks down a bit at high res. Not sure if it’s a part of the noise reduction or sharpening but the same thing can happen if the wrong dark setting is used during deconvolution.

Hey Col, thanks for your input, it's neither of those, just the result of pushing the colours hard in PSCC2020>Selective Colour.

Originally Posted by codemonkey

A fresh perspective on a common target. I didn't even recognise it and had no idea where it was until I saw the title on Astrobin. Well done Andy!

Hey thanks Lee - it's not easy to bring something new an old favourite, glad it worked! Thanks for your encouragement! Cheers

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Thanks Marc - not making excuses but the limited data was pushed pretty hard to get the colour palette where I wanted it

Fair enough. Pretty good result considering.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

I really really like it. It is a combination of processing, framing and pleasing and intriguing colours that make your images stand above the rest. Well done Andy