Nebula looking for a name, Ced 117 in Centaurus.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi,

This is part of the complex around IC 2944 and does not appear to be imaged often on it's own. It's designation is Ced 117 in guide 8.

Here's some limited info..

Ced117
Maximum diameter: 900 arcseconds
Emission nebula
Brightness level: 5 (1=brightest, ... 6=faintest)
Brightness level extremely approximate
Alternative designations for this object:
Ced 117
GN 11.28.1
RCW 61

It was a frustrating image to process!!!:tasdevil:
There seemed to be a lot of foreground dust, ( I'm guessing ) which obscured details of the nebula. A soft light background apply image of 25% in PS seemed the most effective in overcoming this. Anyway this is my effort.
Equipment.

8" Newtonian astrograph f/4. on HEQ pro 5 mount. Orion (http://www.astronomyforum.net/wiki/Orion) mini guider.

Unmodded canon 1100D, baader coma corrector type 3.

17 x 9 minute subs, iso 800, stacked in DSS (http://www.astronomyforum.net/wiki/DSS), processed in PS7.

Cheers,

Justin.

[jase]

Good progress Justin. What are you using to neutralising the background? The reflection nebulosity you've picked up is being suppressed by the magenta cast. Only so much can be done with a heavily compressed jpeg, but I've attached a quick example of what's in the data. Its a pleasing fov with some cool features. Neutralising/flattening the background will certainly take your image quality further.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Thanks Jase!

I use selective colours neutrals, and colour balance mainly for the background.

Cheers,

Justin.

[jase]

DSS doesn't have a background neutralisation tool?? I wouldn't trust using Photoshop to do the task. You need to create three layers to subtract the background and its a complex task to say the least given there is no automatic analysis. You've got to manually perform it. If you are in a position to purchase additional software such as PixInsight, CCDStack, MaximDL, etc (there are many others) you'll find this and many other core tasks such as calibration, combining, deconvolution etc. much easier. You'll likely still use photoshop for bulk of the work but the grunt work, is best handled by the other software previously noted.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Don't know about DSS for background tools, I'll have to look into it. Apart from stacking the images in DSS I use it for little else.

Thanks for your input again.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Ross G]

Great capture Justin.

Detail, colour and stars look good.

Ross.

[glenc]

Thanks Justin, here is some more info on RCW 61.
http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/rcw.py?s=61

[rmuhlack]

I completely agree. When I moved up to Pixinsight (about a year ago) the quality of my final images improved immensely. I've only ever used a DSLR for imaging, but the difference with PI was so startling - it was like I'd just bought another camera!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Thanks Ross!



Thanks Glenn!

Hopefully we will see some more images of this object on IIS.



Sounds like Pixinsight is the go!

I better save some pennies.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Elio]

Great result, another one :thumbsup:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Thanks Elio!

Cheers,

Justin.