NGC 6334&6357 in 3nm NII with raw data for download

[avandonk]

Exposures 17x16 minutes in 3nm NII. It was cold enough last night for the camera cooling to easily run at -40C. It was 2C in the observatory at start of morning twilight.

Large image 12MB

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_04/NGC6334&6357.jpg


Same image reduced to camera native pixel size 5MB

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_04/NGC6334&6357nat.jpg


Bert

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Bert.

Amazing detail.

Great composition.


Ross.

[avandonk]

Thanks Ross. I think I have finally got all the alignment and flexure problems under control. The last? to be solved was the differential expansion/contraction on hot 30C+ days which was throwing out alignment as the system cooled down. It was just a matter of always unlocking the longitudinal dovetail that holds the ITS (image train stabiliser) frame after a night of imaging. This then allows the whole image train to expand and contract without putting any stress anywhere which can change the alignment.

The sensor can be adjusted to about 10 micron or less at the corners from perfect othogonal alignment by adjusting the ITS. It needs to be this good to get almost perfect stars to the corners. The hot days and cool nights can play havoc with this crucial alignment.

It is a lot of pain but the results make it all worthwhile.

Bert

[avandonk]

Here is the unstretched data at large size and 16 bit. 37MB


http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2013_04/NGC6334+.zip


I would be very interested what others can do with this data.

Post your efforts here


Bert

[multiweb]

Great field Bert. Lots happening in there. :thumbsup: Looking forward to have a go at your data. Still have to go through Ara and the Chook first though. :lol:

[avandonk]

A bit slack are you not! You have not done your homework!


To be serious enjoy Marc. It took a lot of dedication and work to get the data.

why hide it?

Bert

[jase]

Very cool Bert. I've been monitoring your progress with your new set up from the shadows. With the set up tuned, you can now stop the tinkering and get on with some mega imaging projects. I like what you've produced but feel you need to get more from the midtones. A DDP stretch is great for seeing what's in the data but doesn't present itself well aesthetically. There is plenty of detail to extract as one could expect with a 3nm filter. I've attached a rough and dirty rendition as a comparison.

http://cosmicphotos.com/reprocessed/BertsNIIdata-reduced.tif (13Mb)

Keen to see more of your work.

[strongmanmike]

Heeeello Jase :eyepop:...where you been at dude?? :hi:

Nice work on Berts data :thumbsup:...Bert?? whada ya doing man? :lol:

Mike

[avandonk]

Mike I just cannot help myself from turning the volume knob up to eleven. Us old degenerates will most probably never change. To tell the truth with my aging eyes Jase's version looks to soft and detailed. I like to see the protuberances to stand out to tintillate my slowly fading urges.

Bert

[strongmanmike]

He he, you do alright...for an old bugger ;)

[dvj]

Excellent processing of this data Jase. Very good dynamic range and sharpness across the image. Did you use Pixinsight?

jg

[avandonk]

Thanks Jase I still have a lot to learn. My poor old brain has been overloaded by having to handle a completely new set of hardware with all the associated software to run it and 16 bit data I am just not very familiar with.

My image used a histogram stretch in ImagesPlus and EasyHDR to tonemap the data. I am interested to see where the noise starts and then see what more/better data does. Refining the aesthetics will come with time.

I have been playing with Startools and it will take some time to get on top of it.

Bert

[jase]

Flat out with work to be honest. Good to see some of your work again. Pushing the boundaries.



Thanks John. All done in Photoshop CS5. Am still learning the ropes with Pixinsight. I should spend more time with it. There are some functions I really admire in PI, then there are others that completely puzzle me.



You're making good progress Bert. 16-bit data provides a huge dynamic range to play with. Trying to get the range to present well is the challenge. You only have too look back on your DSLR images to realise how far you've come. Keep at it.

[naskies]

Wow, what a huge field! Very nice!