A very different Eta Carinae Nebula

[sjastro]

An SIIRGB image of the object.

Eta Carinae is a decidedly different object in SII light, I have never seen a filamentary structure around the Keyhole and the dusty detail is much more pronounced.

6 hrs data in SII, 1 hr each for R, G and B images.

High resolution image
http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjastro/etaSIIc.html

Clear skies

Steven

[jenchris]

stunner.
A great result.
One day someone will mosaic the whole area and get a Nobel prize for it....

[ZeroID]

Wow ! who knew there was so much there ..

[atalas]

Looks awesome Steve!

[sjastro]

Thanks Louie.



Thank you Brent.
It is quite a dramatic change in detail compared to Ha or straight luminance images. I think the weaker SII emission doesn't overpower the image compared to Ha, allowing subtler detail to be revealed through contrast enhancement.



A Nobel prize Jennifer? Maybe a tiny recognition in artistic value as there is very little scientific value in the image.:)

Clear skies

Steven

[Regulus]

Wow. That's very cool and goes down as one of my favourite pics of my favourite Neb.
Well done.

Trevor

[sjastro]

Thanks Trevor.

Steven

[Stevec35]

An interesting shot indeed! There are just so many different ways you can image this thing, IR for instance.

Cheers

Steve

[sjastro]

Steve,

I looked at other combinations such as using OIII as luminance.
Initially I was reserved using SII luminance as this emission is generally quite weak.
However the Keyhole region where the SII emission really stands out is due to a boundary condition where ionizing UV radiation from Eta Carinae has petered out due to absorption. At the boundary the SII emission is the strongest due to the lack of ionizing radiation that would lead to Ha and to a lesser degree OIII emissions.

Regards

Steven

[SkyViking]

That's a great looking and fascinating image. This nebula shows so many details in the various bands. Cool to see this famous area in a new light, literally :)
I very much enjoyed doing my IR version of this nebula too last year.
What about a UV version Steve, is that feasible?

[sjastro]

Thanks Rolf,

I did a 6 hrs luminance NUV imaging with an ST-X10ME, but cancelled the project as it didn't appear to be terribly different from a visible light luminance image.:shrug:

NUV is too close to the visible light spectrum.:)

Attached is the NUV image.

Regards

Steven

[Shiraz]

interesting alternative view Steven - nice work.

[sjastro]

Thanks Ray.

Regards

Steven

[David Fitz-Henr]

Nice image Steve, good detail in the nebula with nice star colours.

[sjastro]

Thanks David.

Clear skies

Steven

[prokyon]

I would say this is perfect! Great work!!! :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Very smooth and detailed Bert, sort of easy on the eye, but the background is bright so a lack of dynamic range I think and the colour is subdued. Thats entirely subjective though. Does lack "pop" as a result though IMO, but popping is not everyones cup of tea.

There was a heated discussion on Ray Gabanys "boosted colour" presentation at AAIC13. He reckoned you have to to get the hoi polloi,s attention for longer than 5 seconds. Thats if you care about that of course.

[gregbradley]

A lovely image Stephen.

Greg.

[E_ri_k]

Nice one :thumbsup:
Erik

[sjastro]

Thankyou Werner.



Fred,

It's Steven not Bert.:shrug: Perhaps you are critiquing a different image here.



Thanks Greg.



Glad you enjoyed the image Eric.

Clear skies

Steven