Godfather - another horse head

[pvelez]

I've been fiddling with this image for days now - nothing like a holiday and clouds to to keep one chained to the computer.

I'm still gathering data and working on vignetting. There is both a nasty gradient and vignetting in the green on this one which leads to odd results when I play with it.

One image is without Ha, the other has Ha included with the red. Processed in PI. About 2 hours Lum and 1 each of RGB. I plan on doubling this and getting the rejection settings right to exclude the obvious plane track.

Pete

[astronobob]

Arhhh yes, just goes to show the advantages of Lum hey, Very smooth result Pete, I cant decern any obvious Vignetting from here, so, good work there :thumbsup:
All the best with adding data, looking forward to it if do :thumbsup:

[stevous67]

Seems like a good start Pete. I like saturation, so like the ha version.

But, if you're referring to that near horizontal line as a plane track, I'd be saying it's Alnitak.

Good luck.,
Steve

[pvelez]

Thanks Bob - I cropped it to get rid of the worst of the vignetting.

More data needed - definitely

Pete

[pvelez]

Thanks Steve

I would never have thought of Alnitak as the source of the horizontal line.

Pete

[Ross G]

Nice looking Horse Head Pete.

I like the way the Ha improves the colours.

Ross.

[stevous67]

Hi Pete,

We've got the same scope /camera, so I saw this the year before. But in my case, the defraction unfortunately cut right through the head of the horse - what a bugger to see after a full night of imaging. Even with dithering, it was still noticeable. Just have to figure out the best camera angle combined with the right guide star.

Cheers

Steve

[pvelez]

Good to hear it's not just me. At least the diffraction runs above the horse in this set up.

I'm keen to snap the Flame Nebula as well but I fear that Alnitak will be too bright.

On another front, how are you finding vignetting with your set up? I'm finding it hard to flat field out images especially in G for some reason. I use PI and find that it sometimes overcorrects. I have played with reducing and increasing the exposure times for the flats but to little benefit. Greg B has given me some suggestions that I need to test out.

The reason I ask is that I have read somewhere that PI might struggle where the vignetting is significant. Do you see any issues with your gear?

Pete

[pvelez]

Thanks Ross

The Ha sure makes a difference. If I can lower the saturation in red but keep the data I'd be happier. Another rainy day task - ie another Sydney summer day!

Pete