Teal Blue Tendrils in Vela (aka The Moustache)

[strongmanmike]

Managed to get a bit more data including a little RGB to complete a colour image of the Moustache. First night was good seeing and still but unfortunately I had some wind and poor seeing (and cloud) on night two :doh:.

This is a nearly 5hr narrowband-broadband (OIII+Ha) hybrid and more or less true colour image, more details under each image

Full Frame Image (large 50% full size - 3meg) (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148397162/original) try shrinking it in your web browser to fit it nicely on your screen :)

The Teal Moustache (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148304355/original) O'le!

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Woo hoo!! Gorgeous Mike!! Magnificent colours and great composition!

Cheers, Marcus

[Larryp]

That looks fantastic, Mike! Love the colours

[swannies1983]

Have to agree, I love the colours too.

[h0ughy]

more signal more signal.....................oh I am in tears

very happy for the result mike though it is a little noisey in the outer faint regions

[RickS]

Lovely, Mike! We don't need no steenking Veil :lol:

[alpal]

Hi Mike - that is so impressive - one to frame for the wall.

[John Hothersall]

Lovely deep blue tendrils, still finding my way around Vela. The blue looks like ocean waves in the wind you battled. The nebula bottom middle shows striking dust effect.

John.

[Stevec35]

Lovely shot and great composition Mike

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

A wonderful image Mike. A little underexposed though. A couple more hours would really deepen the saturation and solidity of the image.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

That's a lovely moustache you've grown there Mike, very colourful! :lol:
Wonderful detail and the composition is great. The nebula at the bottom reminds me of the Flame.

I think a couple of the stars appear greenish, for example the bright one near the centre under the moustache. Probably due to the narrowband data?

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Mike.

Technically it is as excellent as all your work, however, it's the composition that makes this photo stand out.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for looking everyone :thumbsup:

Just nice to be out imaging again, funny even though I only have to set up the scope in my own back yard now and I have lovely dark skies, there are still many stumbling blocks to actually getting out to image, one of my main issues is the wind here :rolleyes:...so this data was taken over two nights with good conditions on the first but I started late so only gathered a couple of hours, second night after I had set up and it was getting dark, I turned on the laptop (which worked this time!) and all of a sudden, like someone turned on a fan near the scope, the wind just picked up - none one second, a strong gusty breeze the next...and held on for several hours, sheesh was I pissed :mad2: I continued anyway just so I could get some more data but it was obviously a little soft and not all useable :sadeyes:...a-n-y-w-a-y......:lol:

Green stars Rolfy?...yes I see what you mean :confuse3:...only a tad green though on my screen, more like yellow with a slight green tinge :P...put it down to the hybrid NB blend :thumbsup:

Yes Greg and Houghy I agree and I wanted more data on this rather faint area (even with 12" @ F3.8) but I can't wait for ever :tasdevil:, I get bored :lol: and want to move on, had the scope under a bag between sessions for over a week waiting for good skies, when they arrived..so did the wind argg.... been over two months since my last image too. Still, lucky I'm not using a small refractor or it would show very little...the rest is down to secret get the most form your data processing :)

Mike

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Something to behold Mike!

Love the colour palette.

This is probably a bit difficult to answer, but how faint is the moustache compared to the pencil nebula?

Cheers,

Justin.

[strongmanmike]

Not sure but it is faint and the intervening Ha is faint also, I note even with less than enough exposure the AG12 has revealed a lot of the teal coloured twisted tendrils though and with plenty of detail, which is good :)

Mike

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Thanks Mike!

Cheers,

Justin.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Great shot Mike; some amazing colour contrasts going on there! A bit breezy? - haven't you setup your dome yet?

[strongmanmike]

No not yet....:whistle: finally spoke face to face with the actual land lord on site a couple of days ago, just to detail exactly what I am planing and confirm it was ok, only had the real estate agents half arsed go ahead till now :rolleyes:

Mike

[Bassnut]

Most excellent Mike, love it.

[Paul Haese]

Several objects to view and the colouring seems really nice. Not really sure about the composition but that is no huge problem, it's just different to what I would have expected.

The noise is of little concern really and an inverted mask will remove most of it anyway.

[Phil Hart]

great to see this mike.. such an interesting area and your scope does it justice so quick! makes me wish i was deep sky imaging too! ;)

Phil

[dvj]

My eyes! My eyes! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!:eyepop:

[strongmanmike]

Glad you do Fred :)



Yeh? Sooo what would you have expected for this field?...errr, seen this field before have we..? :whistle:


Ah well, you know me... ;)...would rather have a bit of noise present than make it look obviously noise reduced ...once I have an observatory (soon) I will be able to collect more data more easily, so stretching is easier :)



Cheers Phil, yes the AG12 is a god send for time starved imagers, I will have it under a dome soon :rolleyes:....



O-K juuuust for you John :love:

A Colourless Moustache (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148429784/original) :thumbsup:

Mike

[Leonardo70]

Wonderful Mike... what image !!!

All the best,
Leo

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Leo, glad you liked it ;)

Mike

[CoolhandJo]

Great image. There is lots to look at. It has depth to it!

[multiweb]

Very cool Movember. Love the colors and composition. Noice. :thumbsup:

[stevous67]

Love these Ha-OIII colour combinations - very nice Mike. :eyepop:

Wonder if it is worthwhile to add RGB star colours in?

I'd love to try this area too.

Cheers,

Steve

[Gem]

Wow! Sweet image! Love the colour! :)

[Jeff]

Fastastic Mike. The tendrils really appear to be "floating" out in front of the emmision nebula and background star field. Love what you've done.

[dvj]

Hi Mike, How easy is it to collimate this scope compared to your old ASA? Are their tip/tilt adjustments at the focuser to square the array?

j

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Paul, would have been better had the wind held off :mad2: .



Thanks Marc, all bar one seemed to like the composition, so that's nice to hear.



Eerr?..I did add RGB for the stars :question:

Yes, this is my first real HaOIII red/teal blue combo I have done really :thumbsup:



Glad to hear Jeff :)



Collimation is a breeze and holds well, unfortunately no focuser adjustments are available, an after market Camera Tilting Unit (http://www.gerdneumann.net/english/astrofotografie-parts-astrophotography/ctu-camera-tilting-unit.html)is available but would be tricky to fit in my image train...? Collimation can do the same thing for most of any plane tilt but would need to be performed with the camera attached. ..something I may try fiddling with once I have her permanently setup in the dome.

Mike

[astronobob]

Dang Thats some well resolved dust Mike,:cool:
Might add, I'm not experienced enough to crytique it, but Im learning from others :P



LOL Houghy

[strongmanmike]

By dust I asume you mean the shock wave tendrils? Yes I was pleased with the detail that showed up despite the windy conditions.



Just don't learn the must point out the obvious trivial only negative approach :rolleyes: :lol:



Yes, he is a very funny man :nerd: but we love him :P

[cventer]

Awesome shot Mike. Looks good in such a big frame with some interesting nebulosity above and below.

[ourkind]

Great work Mike, love it! :thumbsup: Been missing your images over the last few months :( especially your galaxies!

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Carlos and Chris, sorry Carlos don't worry I'm annoyed about it, seems lots of things can work against us imagers, one of my most annoying issues is my windy site and because I am still in a somewhat exposed position (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/147003522), it gets me more than I would like :doh:

Mike

[LewisM]

Loving it. Might dye my mo teal :)

[ourkind]

That's as exposed as it gets, no trees around to dampen any gusts.

It's a tough sport imaging, everything needs to be right ... no light pollution, no clouds, no rain, no wind, no snakes and on and on and on. We deserve a medal :D

[gregbradley]

Mike you could probably knock up a simple pine frame and a bit of 2nd hand galvanised corrugated sheeting on 3 sides to create a wind shelter for minimal expense. Pin it to the ground with a few metal star pickets and screw the frame off to them. Make it about 300-400mm taller than your scope pointing to the zenith and you should be right.

It might tide you over until you get your dome.

I used to get frustrated often at my dark site by wind as well. The 12.5 inch RCOS sat in the back of the car on many a weekend and thats with an observatory.

I had another look at your image. Its really very nice. I particularly like the small orangy neb near the bottom. That often can look very dull and uninteresting and it looks great in your image. Those tendrils are one of the nicest objects in the southern hemisphere skies.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

I second that :thumbsup:..at least I am not lugging ALL of THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/107700957/original) an hour out of town every night for 7 nights over a 2 month period to get THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/115563597/original) anymore... with a bigger faster scope now, I can do as good or even better (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141019883/original) and in my own back yard in just a night or two :D :prey: :thumbsup:



Thanks Greg and yes I have considered something like that, I deliver to cosntructions sites all day and I am eyeing off those construction fencing panels, 4 should do it ie 2.4m X 2.4m and 1.8m high - should do the trick until I get my slab, pier and Sirius dome up...:thumbsup:

Mike

[avandonk]

Stop sooking Mike, just stand upwind of your setup.

Bert

[strongmanmike]

:windy: :scared2:

[stevous67]

O'boy, sorry, I hate it when somebody doesn't read the lead post properly. :P

Cheers,

Steve

[strongmanmike]

Ah sigh.. too many posts...not enough time :sadeyes: :thumbsup:

It must look to you like no RGB was used then..? It is largely a narrowband image and I didn't want the star colours to be saturated, so it remained somewhat narowband-ish in appearance...if that makes any sense :question:

Mike