A colourful spider

[strongmanmike]

What? not a galaxy...? :eyepop: :P

Ok this was just a quicky at the end of the night, just cause....:P

Hey I've imaged the Tarantula a few times before :question: (haven't we all..?) buuut it was still and clear with no moon (not that this made much difference with NB) and the seeing was quite good around 3.30am when I was planning to finish up, sooo thought ahh what the heck. It's less than 1.5hrs total only (sorry Paul) in SII Ha OIII

...different? :P...you might need to look at it for a while..then it might start to grow on you :lol:

A Colourful Spider (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152821169/original) Full Frame

Deep inside the heart of the Spider (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152965237/original)

8m VLT comparison (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152939214/original)

Mike

[CapturingTheNight]

:eyepop::eyepop::eyepop: What an image to wake up to on a beautiful Saturday morning. Brilliant as always Mike

[stevous67]

Colour scheme is actually very nice mike.

Is that mapped SII HA OIII= RGB?

Great!

Steve

[gregbradley]

Remarkably deep for 1.5 hours. Amazing really.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

:lol: on ya Greg :thumbsup: actually, after an all nighter, I've just been out having a cuppa on our deck watching the sun rise with my wife



Cheers Steve and yes...plus some Sidonio tweaks of course :whistle:



Yeah, not bad huh? I probably should do a deeper version now that I've started :question: The guiding was essentially perfect for the whole 1.5hrs too with guide errors < 0.1pix in both axis the entire time :D

Mike

[Larryp]

Wow! Colours are beautiful, Mike :thumbsup:

[Dennis]

Very nice Mike, very nice indeed; what a beautiful cosmic scene.

Cheers

Dennis

[Bassnut]

I like the colour generally, well done. Could do with more hrs though, asking for that. Top work for imaging time that is half of 1 decent sub per filter ;).

[cybereye]

1.5 hours? That's it, I'm giving this game away and taking up bocce instead!

What a fantastic image...:thumbsup:

Cheers,
Mario

[gregbradley]

Yeah, not bad huh? I probably should do a deeper version now that I've started :question: The guiding was essentially perfect for the whole 1.5hrs too with guide errors < 0.1pix in both axis the entire time :D

Mike[/QUOTE]

Wow. That NJP of yours is a gem. I did a 330 point T-Point model and tweaked polar alignment on my PME last night. I activated Protrack to help with guiding. I did notice an improvement in star roundness. essentially perfect round (the odd minor elongation on small stars) in 15 minute subs at 3 metres. Not bad. You can see the difference in the image when guiding is that good. Extra sharpness and detail.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Nice Mike! Don't reeeally think needs more exposure frankly - but you can never have too much. Like the colours but the blue is a bit overwhelming IMO. If it was mine I'd reduce the blue a tad and then stretch a bit more with curves and shadow highlights.

Cheers, Marcus

[Shiraz]

pretty spectacular image Mike. Colours work well and the fine detail is definitely worth having on this object.

[naskies]

A radioactive spider... I love it! :lol:

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
fantastic results for such short integration time.
keep them coming.

cheers
Allan

[RobF]

Bah, showoff! :P

That's amazingly good for so little exposure time for a NB image Mike, but its particularly hard to hear how good your guiding is as well :tasdevil:

[Rod771]

Fantastic image Mike! Especially when just finishing up for the night.

A quickie that goes for 1.5 hrs - I'm not sure if that's good or bad :question: :P

Well done :thumbsup:

[Ross G]

Great looking photo Mike.

So sharp and love the detail.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Lazza



Cheers Dennis, it's rather a unique looking area huh?



He he yeah enormously long 7X5min subs on Ha (was literally only doing for fun after a nights run on NGC 1097 last week) and 10min subs on OIII and SII last night :D



Hey Bocce is a great fun game that all the family can enjoy :D

Yes the AG12 comes into its own when you want lots of photons and fast ;)



Wow. That NJP of yours is a gem. I did a 330 point T-Point model and tweaked polar alignment on my PME last night. I activated Protrack to help with guiding. I did notice an improvement in star roundness. essentially perfect round (the odd minor elongation on small stars) in 15 minute subs at 3 metres. Not bad. You can see the difference in the image when guiding is that good. Extra sharpness and detail.

Greg.[/QUOTE]

I can not imagine a mount that could top it and that was with no PEC, no ProTack, nuttin :D



He he Marcus...Awe I recon you struggles witch likin dem colours ;) LOL stretching 7X5min Ha, 20min SII and 30min OIII further? :eyepop:...The AG12 is good but not that good :lol: as for the blue...maybe t'will catch the eye of his Excellency? ;) :P



Cheers Ray, can never have enough detail...give me low Earth orbit :)



We could call it the Fukushima Nebula :question: :P



Will do Al :thumbsup:



Ah yes, watching the guide star centroid [plot make a perfect round circle in the middle 25% of the 1 pix radius bulls eye is horny stuff :evil2:



Err..that should have been 1.5min then :ashamed: :lol:....:sadeyes:



Cheers Rossco

[strongmanmike]

More hours smouwers, too much sky to image too little time :doh: :lol:

Nah, of course, just couldn't be bothered this time - lazy sod :P

Mike

[multiweb]

Great spider. Always a crowd pleaser. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Nah, just balance the histograms bit and gentle stretch. I tried it - looked great! The green hues popped a bit more.



Hehe, you may have a point there. His Highness' penchant for BLUE should never be understated! One does so at one's peril! :lol:

[Paul Haese]

You're sucking up all the photons Mikie. :P Yes you need a lot more data, but for what you have here, the extra diameter really has an impact on depth. I like the colour and the whispy nature of the nebulosity. Well done. Now get some automation happening. What are you doing up at 3:30am? You're meant to be sleeping then.;) Well I was and I was collecting data.:D

[Elio]

;)

[ChrisM]

I like it Mike; the colours work for me. Not sure what you'd pick up with even more exposure...
Chris

[strongmanmike]

Yes mega data is good and does have it's benefits for sure (done a few myself ya know ;) ) buuuut one also needs to balance the desire to actually image more things with the need to produce a few perfect (?) images :shrug: personally I think mega data is a litle overated for general objects :shrug: of course if you can and wish to go right ahead :thumbsup:

Hey you keep saying this automation thing and I get it, I do but at this stage I am content sitting there with the rod and fishing line in my hand listening to ABC radio :lol: thus far I haven't felt the compelling need nor am I in the position to go with the boat and net just yet ;)

:thumbsup:



My feelings exactly...although a bit more would have helped for sure but this is a bright area and doing many hours is just not a good return on the investment.... IMO

Mike

[astronobob]

What, not a Galaxy ? I reackon ya just a haven fun wid da crowd ya character ;)
Gotta say tho, Your work is very inspiration for many Mike, an outstanding result which ever way you went about it & the envy of many also , , Quality stuff and great to see :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[naskies]

Is that because you have to keep rotating your dome every 60-90 mins...? :rofl:

[cosmophoton]

It's nice to see a different palette setting, instead of the "standard" Tarantula colors.

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks Bob :ashamed: t'was just an image on the side really :)



Errr? more like every 30 - 40min for most sky tracks :doh:



NB processing is boundless all comes down to how you feel on the day Luiz :lol:

[jase]

Look'n good Mike. No need for mega data when you have speed. More data simply gives you more options in how to present the image i.e. stretch it harder. I like the minimalist approach, even if just a 'fill-in' image. I think the master of minimalist imaging would be Adam Block. His ability to get the most from small data sets is nothing short of remarkable and shows that you don't need uber data to get a fantastic result. Your presented colour balance works for me. Well done.

[strongmanmike]

Yes, the fixation on mega data can get a bit like an addiction or even like a demonic possession in some..arhem Fred :whistle: :lol:

Yeah I know what you mean re Adam and I would put Wolfgang Promper up in there with him...and hey, I have been known to squeeze a bit of juice out of a dry image of a lemon myself on occasion too :whistle: :lol:

Mike

[RickS]

That's a great Tarantula, Mike. Very well done!

[strongmanmike]

I dunno....I recon it needs a few more minutes :help: lets say oh..?..ummm?...maybe 20-30hrs perhaps :question: see you in December :lol:

Mike

[RickS]

Will let you off with 10-15 hours since it's a bright target ;)

[strongmanmike]

Funny I think the longest I have gone with the AG12 is 9hrs (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/galaxy_pair_in_southern_virgo) but it was a faint target....seems I'm behind the 8 ball :question:

Mike

[h0ughy]

great shot Mike

[strongmanmike]

Cheers mate...you could get this easily from Newie :thumbsup:

Mike

[Irish stargazer]

:bowdown:;)

[Nicola]

Very nice Tarantula, one day I'll try to image it at that focal length too.

[strongmanmike]

Sooo, you are flapping around in the wind there John :question:

Thanks for the emoticons :thumbsup:



Thank you Nicola, what focal length are you at these days?

Mike

[dvj]

Switching between cameras and pixel resolution offers nice flexibility. Wide field and narrow field results all in one scope. Now that's a feature. I am betting with an AO, tighter guiding, doing lots of subs and tossing bad ones would yield an even higher resolution result. Clearly OAG is the way to go here. Hope you get the chance to add more data.

jg

[strongmanmike]

Cheers John

Yep with the two cameras the AG12 can deliver the best of both worlds :thumbsup: and yes, even though it's not too bad already certainly some more data is really needed. The seeing was good for the collection of this small data set though with the average guide errors holding steady at below +/- 0.1pix or +/- 0.3" so data rejection was not warranted. Of course, as you say, one would imagine that an AO unit might up the ante even further....I may consider getting one :)

Mike

[h0ughy]

yeah sure - just like you did from newy eh? ;):rofl:

[strongmanmike]

Sorry I don't mean as sharp ( the seeing IS much better here) but by using NB filters with your new CCD you could punch through the dog track and neighbours lights :thumbsup:...not the smoke I believe you have at the moment though :sadeyes:

Mike