Horsehead from Arizona - final version I hope

[Stevec35]

I managed to get the final colour data for this one so this image consists of 13 hours of Ha and 6.5 hours RGB. There is plenty of interference from Alnitak which I attempted to minimize a bit. The final image doesn't look too bad to me but feel free to criticize as it's the only way I'll learn.

Cheers

Steve

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/horsehead_Maknewt_QSI.htm

[Larryp]

Lovely! So much detail

[Stevec35]

Thanks again Larry. I think you are my biggest fan.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Nice work, Steve. Not sure there's a lot you can do about Alnitak apart from making sure there are no shiny bits in your image train.

[batema]

They both look fantastic. What imaging system were you using and how long were each individual subs if that is OK to ask?

Mark

[Stevec35]

Thanks Mark. Ha subs were 20 minutes, RGB 5 minutes. The telescope is a 20cm F4 Maksutov Newtonian using a QSI 583 WSG camera. You can see a picture of the setup at the bottom of this page:

http://www.ccdimages.com/



Thanks Rick. Yes I haven't seen any Alnitak busting software around.

[Peter Ward]

The shoot horses don't they? :)

Has to be the best HH of the season. Nice one. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

That's a great horsehead there Steve. Especially the H alpha version looks very crisp, beautiful work!

I didn't manage to do a horsehead image this season. My skies are obscured by trees to the west so it's too late now, but hopefully next time around :)

[Stevec35]

Thanks Rolf. It's in a bad position from my back yard too.



Thanks Peter. Don't know about that but I was happy with it. Sometimes it's hard to believe that this is only a 20cm telescope.

[Kunama]

Spectacular image Steve, love it !!!!

[gregbradley]

Great shot Steve.

Its funny how the background streamers tend to not be so noticeable in the HaLRGB image. I noticed that in my own image.

I'll have to try out using my ML8300 for this setup as those nice small star sizes look great.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Greg. That could just be my processing but most people prefer the Ha only version because of the extra detail it shows. Of course the RGB shows the reflection nebulosity much better.



Thanks Matt

[atalas]

Turned out great!well done Steve.

[strongmanmike]

It looks decidedly Malinesque, per when he applied his photographic unsharp masking.

Great result Steve

Mike

[Stevec35]

Thanks Mike. Amazing how things have changed since DM's original image. You can now approach those lofty heights with a 20cm telescope.



Thanks Louie

[SkyViking]

Hi Steve, upon reflecting on Greg's comment earlier I was thinking what if you make a luminance frame consisting of the entire Ha frame with just the two blue reflection areas in the lover right blended in from your L frame? Then you should get a very crisp luminance frame with all the Ha detail, plus reflection nebulae but without Alnitak spikes. And then use that frame on top of your RGB?

Cheers,
Rolf

[Stevec35]

Hi Rolf

Might be worth trying. Are you saying just select the reflection data in PS with a lot of feathering and add to the Ha? Sounds very radical - I haven't done anything like that before. I assume it would still work with synthetic luminance. I don't have any "real" luminance.

Cheers

Steve

[SkyViking]

Hi Steve, in Photoshop I would layer the Ha on top of the L frame from the LRGB image. Then slowly erase the Ha with a soft brush only around the reflection neb areas to allow them to come through. Finally flatten layers and use that as your luminance. Should be ok as the light in this area is mainly Ha and blue reflection :)

[David Fitz-Henr]

That's a fantastic image Steve - great colour and detail there! I'm currently collecting data for this as well and from the subs so far I can see that Alnitak will cause some processing headaches, with ghost reflections and very bright diffraction spikes. It is a good idea to blend the Ha into the Luminance with these nebulae as per Rolf's suggestion in order to incorporate the increased detail / contrast of the Ha image into the colour image.

[Paul Haese]

Looks very nice to me Steve, great colour and saturation.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Paul



Thanks David



Thanks Rolf. Will get to this soonish. Preoccupied with telescope problems and other matters at the moment.

[Ross G]

Amazing Horse Head photo Steve.

Ross.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Ross