Corona Australis by the Bunyip - Final with Colour

[David Fitz-Henr]

I finally collected the colour data for my Corona Australis image (NGC 6723, 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812). I had collected and processed the luminance late last year, but had to wait till now before acquiring all the RGB data. I did originally collect it last year but made the mistake of acquiring the green data on a different night and hadn't realised that some of the nebulae are variable due to the variable stars R and TY Coronae Australis, which skewed my original colour data.

Large Image: http://www.pbase.com/david_fitz_henry/image/146373474

Lum-2.5hrs, R-3hrs, G-3hrs, B-3hrs all through the "Bunyip 12.5" newtonian.

[sjastro]

A very fine image David.

Regards

Steven

[multiweb]

That's a great picture David. You brought up the colors beautifully. I just feel that your stars are a little clipped. Most noticable in the cluster and bright ones. Top shot nonetheless. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Steven!


Thanks Marc! I guess you mean slightly white clipped? Looking at the luminance stretching, the histogram shows a tiny spike at the extreme right even before any stretching. This is a little taller after some basic stretching, so I don't see any way to avoid it? It was an exceptionally steady night when I took the luminance, so perhaps the stars are showing sharper edges around the saturated cores where they would usually be a little softer?

[John Hothersall]

Detail is amazing David right into the core of the globular, there is even a couple of beautiful spiral galaxies in there one lower left. Looks wonderful at full size.

John.

[alpal]

Great pic David & I like that spiral galaxy too.

[Larryp]

Top notch, David! Beautiful colours:thumbsup:

[Gem]

Superb!!!
Image of the week material!

[Dennis]

A beautiful image, I really enjoyed panning this incredible view and only wished my 1920x1200 monitor was larger so I could take it in all at once, although scrolling around was enjoyable as each exquisite sub-object slid into view. The clarity and detail is quite breathtaking.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[gregbradley]

Beautiful image. My only complaint is the framing cut off a small part of the glob. Otherwise, wow, that is a super Corona Australis. This newt of yours is sensational and beautiful processing as well.

I see you got a couple of great looking spiral galaxies there as well. That one on the left looks like M101.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

That is one fine image David. The full size image shows a wealth of detail and is very interesting looking at the center of the nebula and the galaxy looks very cool. I spent around the same amount of exposure time on this target and it shows how much detail a 12.5" can gain over a 4" scope. Resolution is very nice.

Maybe just a touch red in the dust for me, but still a fab image.

[DJT]

Thats a beautiful image, marvelous colours.
:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Sensational David, the colour was a while coming but wow!

The central nebula looks very 3D, beautiful :thumbsup:

Mike

[RobF]

Well, that's moderately amazing! Love the detail in the reflection nebs. Sublime. Zoomed right in the glob seems a little harsh, but what a fantasic FOV to swim around in.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks John, there was excellent seeing on the night I took the luminance so the resolution is at peak value for the scope.


Thanks Allan!


Thanks Larry!


Thanks Grant!


Thanks Dennis; great comments much appreciated!


Thanks Greg! I meant to have the glob hugging the top but it went a bit higher than intended; still, put it down to artistic licence showing the cosmos flowing on to infinity and beyond ... ;) :P


Thanks Paul! Actually I looked at various images of the region on the web and they all rendered the dust areas quite dark; on stretching the image I thought that there was a bit of detail that showed up in the darker areas that could be brought out further. These darker areas tended to be redder in my data so it sort of came out as a consequence of my stretching.


Thanks David!


Thanks Mike; actually probably a good thing that the colour was a while coming as it gave my processing skills a chance to catch up somewhat with the quality of luminance data I had collected :D :P

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Rob! Since the field takes in multiple objects I had to decide on a sub length for my luminance to suit all; I went with 15 minutes to bring out the faint nebulae but the compromise is that this is longer than I might choose for the globular alone, so some of the stars are a little saturated. I could take some more subs for the globular and layer them in I suppose ... perhaps a future enhancement ....

[LewisM]

Agree with the cropping the glob issue, but otherwise a fantastic image indeed.

[h0ughy]

nice data - but the dust is a tinge to red . lots of stuff to fill the senses

[strongmanmike]

I think the magenta/red tinge in the dust may well be quite accurate as there is likely some Ha & Hb in there as well, in any case I like it, lovely colour saturation :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

A really lovely image, David. As expected, after seeing the original Luminance :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

I keep coming back to this image Dave...I'm under its spell....:scared2:

I love the folded hands, incredible resolution

Mike

[multiweb]

Yes - white clipped. I guess your scope optics are so sharp all the light from the stars is focused to a point and they saturate very quickly.

[RobF]

If you've been talking to Rick, hopefully you're aware of this thread David....
Using HDR to avoid saturated stars (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=107684)

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks for all the comments and feedback Lewis, David, Mike, Rick, Marc and Rob! I have reprocessed this mainly to fix the harshness of the globular and to soften some of the brighter star cores. Funnily enough, I had forgotten that I had originally taken 6 x 5 minute luminance subs with the globular in mind, so I have now processed this data and layered it into the luminance which has improved its appearance within the image. I also used it to tighten up a couple of the overexposed stars in the nebula as well.

Updated image here: http://www.pbase.com/david_fitz_henry/image/146373474

In terms of the reddish colour of some of the nebula, I have to agree with Mike here as the data indicates that this is a true indication of the colour present; I would have had to suppress the red hue which would then mean I am losing detail. I think that because I have stretched extra detail out of the fainter portions of the nebulae it thus becomes more prominent, as opposed to the usual trend to portray it as darker. It's interesting as the norm for most nebula processing is to stretch as much information out as possible :question:

[multiweb]

Yeah the cluster takes a whole new dimension now. It has some depth and great colours. When making a pretty picture you stretch what you want to show and mask other areas then composite. You don't have to do a global apply.

[RobF]

Just beautiful.
I think my fav part if the wispy blues, particularly those towards the top of the pic. They really do look like hot blue starlight is being reflected off each individual wisp. :bowdown:
Even though I KNOW that's what's going on, this rendition makes you really FEEL it.

[dvj]

The latest rendition is superb. I really like the 2 big face on spiral galaxies. I had no idea they were in this field.

[Ross G]

What a beautiful photo David.

So sharp and detailed. I love the colours.

Ross.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Yes thanks Marc; quite right and in fact I had collected those 6 frames specifically for the globular but as it had been about 6 months since collecting the luminance data I had forgotten about them :lol:


Thanks Rob, much appreciate the comments; glad that you like it so much!


Thanks John; the feedback from the forum was very helpful in fine tuning the latest version.


Thanks Ross!

[SkyViking]

Wow, that is superb David! Really worth the wait for the colour data. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at this image at full resolution, there is so much to see.
Evidently a well collimated Newtonian produce spectacular images and is the ultimate imaging scope IMHO. Thanks for sharing this.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Rolf; yes I've always been a big fan of the simple Newtonian. There may be one or two others on the forum with a similar bent (Mike / Bratislav) ...

[Regulus]

Truly a beautiful photograph David. Love that the highlights aren't burnt out and the wispy blues are excellent.
Thanks for sharing it - Trevor

[broca]

Fantastic image. Nice and dusty! Beautiful colors too!

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks for that Trevor.


... and thanks Steve.

[marco]

I also missed this one David, one of the most beautiful images of the area I have ever seen. Details are incredible, seeing, telescope and ability all contributed in equal form to this amazing image, my compliments!
Clear Skies
Marco

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Marco, a great compliment much appreciated!

[Stevec35]

I missed this one too David. It would have to be one of the best images I've ever seen of this region.

Cheers

Steve

[LewisM]

I need a rubber bumper for my chin!

I wish you offered processing classes - I'd pay :)

[iceman]

Beautiful image!

[David Fitz-Henr]

Thanks Steve.


Thanks Lewis; actually I usually have a few goes at processing these images before I'm happy, so a bit of trial and error ... :) Some thanks too for tips along the journey by all esp. Marcus (marc4darkskies) and Marc (multiweb).


Thanks Mike.

[AG Hybrid]

Truly a fantastic image. That little spiral galaxy right from center is a nice little object to look at in the high res image too.

[alocky]

Absolutely magnificent, great data, expertly processed!