The Dark Tower

[RickS]

I always wanted to image this object after seeing fantastic renditions from Marcus (marc4darkskies) and Don Goldman, so here's my first attempt.

I was able to get quite a lot of Ha from home but good quality RGB was much more difficult to come by. I managed a few hours under dark skies/without clouds over the past couple of new moon weekends and got a lot less than I would have liked, but I won't get more until next year...

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/9 = 2760mm FL, Atlas focuser
Mount: AP900
Camera: U16M
Filters: Astrodon E series Gen 2 LRGB, 3nm HA, OIII, SII
Guiding: Lodestar / MMOAG
Image scale: 0.67 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 58x1800s Ha, 7x900s R, 7x900s G, 8x900s B (29 + 5.5 hrs)

Processed in PixInsight.

High res version on Astrobin: http://www.astrobin.com/126037/

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Oh, my.

Rick, that is something else. Wow!

H

[strongmanmike]

Wow, nice job Rick :thumbsup: 34hrs...not much exposure there though :shrug:

Ooooh, love the detail in the head of the tower :cheers:

Don't like the red stars everywhere though and the nebulous reds look a little washed out in places...but only minor processing critique there really, ignore if you wish :P

Mike

[gregbradley]

On first look, stunning! High impact. The excess red stars though are bit bright in spots and distracting. Perhaps a star mask when adding in the Ha would help there.

34 hours - wow, you really go for it.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

The red stars are a bit distracting but otherwise it looks great! You've certainly been turning out some top images Rick.

Cheers

Steve

[SimmoW]

Wow, huge effort with a commensurate result. Imaging at another level! Esp at those FLs

[RickS]

Thanks, H.



Ta, Mike. Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to give it a day or two and then have a go at a repro.



Thanks, Greg. This is my first attempt at adding more than a touch of Ha to a RGB image so some new techniques to learn!



Thanks, Steve.



Ta, Simon.

[multiweb]

Very cool shot Rick. :thumbsup:

[Geoff45]

Great image Rick. You seem to be churning out spectacular images at a rapid rate!
Geoff

[marco]

Fantastic Rick, one of the best image of the area I have ever seen :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Clear skies
Marco

[atalas]

Nice work Rick.

[marc4darkskies]

Only viewing on my phone but this looks excellent Rick! :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Ha!, thats just great, leaps out of the screen :thumbsup:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Great work Rick!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

The Dark Tower is a real pain to process, buried in a dense star field and it's tricky colour wise too!!


This is my effort from last year.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=146715

I'll have to have another go now after seeing yours, don't expect anything like yours but hope to improve.

Cheers,

Justin.

[RickS]

Thanks, Marc!



Thanks, Geoff. Still the same or slower rate for local imaging but the second remote scope is keeping me supplied with data :thumbsup:



Thank you, Marco.



and thanks, Louie.



Ta, Marcus. Better not too look to closely although with a little more work it may be more acceptable at high res.



Thanks, Fred. Leaps out and yells in your face :D



Thanks, Justin. I did take note of yours when doing my homework. It is a difficult FOV indeed!

[alpal]

Hi Rick,
it's a top notch pic &
compares well with this APOD:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110427.html

I can see you were inspired by Don Goldman.
well done

cheers
Allan

[Ross G]

A great looking closeup photo Rick.

So sharp and amazing detail.

I love the composition.

Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Allan! Marcus did a very nice version too: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=76772



Thanks Ross.

[IanP]

Huge scope and huge result – fantastic Rick!!!
:thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Awesome photo, Rick. Good to see.

[RickS]

Thanks Ian & Mike! Still to do my repro. I have been mulling over the feedback and my own thoughts and I'm sure I can make some improvements...

[cometcatcher]

Awesome!

[alpal]

Marcus certainly did as well.

cheers
Allan

[RickS]

Thanks, Kevin :)

[Camelopardalis]

Stunning Rick :thumbsup: love the bubble at the top of the tower (as well as everything else!)

[RickS]

Thanks, Dunk!

[Mckechg]

Amazing - this is a inspirational picture. I want to be this good.

Thanks for sharing/

[Paul Haese]

Nice going Rick. Good colour and detail in the head of the tower is superb. Nicely mega'ed up.

Red stars are not my cup of tea. Other than that, this is a really nice image.

[RickS]

Thanks, Grant.



Ta, Paul. I do plan a repro to deal with the red LED stars and a few other niggles. I'm a bit behind in my processing after spending several nights writing my first PixInsight script...

[gvanhau]

I thought I had commented on this one, but now revisiting it, I see I did not...

Very nice object, and very well captured. The resolution is fantastic, looking forward to your reprocess.

Geert

[RickS]

Thanks, Geert.

[Shiraz]

wonderful image as is Rick - looking forward to your repro as well.

[RickS]

Thanks, Ray. I must get off my butt and get the repro done!