NGC2020 and friends in NB

[Paul Haese]

Taken over 13 nights and amounting to 41.5 hours of integration time this is the latest image out of Clayton Observatories.

The image contains 540 minutes of SII, 660 minutes of Ha, 600 minutes of OIII and 690 minutes of LRGB. Blending was conducted in Photoshop CS6.

What I really like about this region is all the dust and gas knots. There are so many interesting objects to look at just in this field alone without all the really interesting stuff further afield and indeed this will be a map of targets for me to image with the RC12 in the coming years.

I highly recommend you take a look at the larger image.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/NGC2020-NGC2040-NGC1935.html) for larger image

[RickS]

Very cool image, Paul. Well worth the time! Some great long FL targets in that lot.

Cheers,
Rick.

[rogerg]

Wow! There's an awful lot of sweeeet smooth data in that! :thumbsup: Absolutely awesome :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Really nice work Paul. Particularly enjoyed that palette you've achieved and some great detail in some of the "bubbles".

Was that done at F5?

[PRejto]

Great image Paul!! Beautifully processed.

Really love all those blue stars on the right side of the image.

Peter

[AstroJason]

Wow, really nice image Paul, love the details in the knots of the nebulae and the colours really pop. Thanks for sharing.

Jason

[Spookyer]

Paul, lovely work. Very interesting area of the sky.

[Placidus]

Paul,it was fantastic before. Now it's utterly spectacular, gorgeous, definitive. Thank you for the resource! Best, Mike

[multiweb]

Saw that one on FB. Very deep indeed. Gorgeous colors and some very sharp details that only this kind of integration time would bring out. Well done. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Awesome result! It's fascinating all right :)
As I'm just starting out on NB imaging, may I ask which filters you mapped to which colours?
Cheers
Andy

[Rod771]

Wonderful Paul! :thumbsup: Lots to see there, well done!

[rustigsmed]

yep such a cool area with so much going on, fantastic capture / processing as usual.

cheers

rusty

[SkyViking]

Impressive result Paul, each iteration of this image has made it better and better. I love the unusually looking bubbles and structures that are so apparent at the different scale we observe things by in the LMC/SMC. It really puts such objects into a different perspective and your image captures this beautifully. Great detail and colours as well, a pleasure to view.

[pluto]

Great image of an interesting area :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

A fabulous image Paul. Sensational.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Can't argue with that - a really lovely image Paul! :thumbsup:

This is not a criticism, but I can't help feeling that the stars should be somewhat tighter with an FSQ-106ED(?). Seeing, focus, processing bloat ... or my imagination? :)

BTW, I too am starting to build a target list - images like this will help a lot! :thumbsup:

Cheers, Marcus

[RickS]

I reckon it's the KAF-8300. I used to run a SX H-18 with my FSQ-106ED and the scope I share at SRO is also a FSQ-106ED with a QSI683 camera. Both set ups suffer from a degree of star bloat. Probably a combination of a fast scope, small pixels, shallow well depth and microlenses. My FSQ-106ED produces pinpoint stars with a KAI-11000 or KAF-16803.

Cheers,
Rick.

[dvj]

Paul, you really had me fooled for a minute. I thought this image at first was from a much larger telescope. Well done!

jg

[atalas]

Paul sensational work on the nebulas nots!

[drdavekaplan]

What a beautiful shot of the whole area Paul
Such magnifiscent energy in the area
I can just imagine all the swirling stellar winds blowing at Hypersonic speeds
Lovely Shock fronts all over from the shear as Fast winds slam into slower interstial space
and massive great display of patience
Good one mate
Dave
South Africa
Across the pond

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Glad the image appeals.



Yes this was at F5 Rob. I have a reducer but at this stage I like having the rotator to compose images.



Yep method in my madness it seems Marc. ;)



Hi Andy, the map is Lum to luminance, SII to red, Ha to green and OIII to blue. Once I was happy with the colour I use RGB data for the stars.



I agree Marcus, but as Rick pointed out I reckon it is the KAF8300 sensor.

This is after a star reduction too. If I ever get my STXL back I should try the FSQ with the 11002 sensor.




Thanks John, I cannot wait to use a much larger telescope on these targets.:)

[Leonardo70]

Wonderful Paul .. this is a great project and great image.

Usually in my comments I say only "very nice or beautiful image and so" because i don't speak well your Language but a bit of experience in astrophotography I think to have. For this I make an exception to my rule and I say what I think on the FSQ and bloated stars.

FSQ need a very accurate focus, someone use autofocus routine but this mean a problems for the short CFZ and huge backlash of original focuser. Manual focus is the best way (or changing focuser). Second the temperature ... 1/2 °C and you need absolutely to refocus. Third avoid a single long exposure. At F3.6 multiply this consideration to infinite. This is my experience with this scope and the 8300 sensor. With a large pixel all become really more more easy and possible, squaring CCD apart ...

My opinion ... and my experience !

All the best,
Leo

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Leo for your observations. Just out of interest I am doing autofocus runs with focusmax every 40 minutes. I open the roll off roof about 1 hour and 40 minutes prior to the first focus run. The first two subs I nearly always reject because focus is not stable at that point and the stars are slight bloated.

I have 20 focusmax V curves which are very tight. I rejected 11 v curves because they did not have the same characteristics.

I have not found any back lash yet but I will certainly be keeping an eye out know since you have informed me of the possibility.

I want to thank you for taking the time to put down your comments. :thumbsup:

[Leonardo70]

No problems Paul ... is just my opinion after five years of using this combo.

As i already said .. wonderful image !

All the best,
Leo

[Shiraz]

:thumbsup: cracking good image of a very interesting region

[Ross G]

Great looking photo Paul.

Interesting detail.

Ross.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Ray and Ross for taking the time to comment.



I certainly am listening to your opinion. You have an extended experience with this scope.

The CFZ is very tight on this scope and is very demanding of good focus and hence why I did over 30 V curves in focusmax. With remote imaging though it is impractical to do manual focus runs so I must rely on focusmax getting it right. It is very easy to see when the images are just a little out of focus. And; I have considered doing runs after each image, though this takes up more imaging time through out the night. Unfortunately CCDAP does not seem to allow for setting focusing for a number of times during the first three hours and then once every hour after that. I have noted with this scope that after a few hours the focus is well settled and remains quite static; A good cool down prior to imaging is very important too.

[Amaranthus]

Lovely Paul - almost like a cosmic ballet dance.

I was scanning that region last night with my 12x36 IS binos, and I was thinking of this shot when I did it. It looks great through the wide field of the binos, but it's nice to have a 'reference image' in my mind too!

[DJT]

Great image Paul, really enjoying the colours. Am playing with a region in that FOV at the moment and its pretty cool at fl1600, not exactly long but loads of options.

enjoy

[Stevec35]

Like it a lot Paul. Great colour and very tastefully processed.

Cheers

Steve

[Rex]

Mammoth effort Paul, and well worth it mate. really nice to look at.

[Bassnut]

Excellent Paul, exquisite colour balance, a pleasure to view.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Steve, Rex and Fred for taking the time to comment.



Yes funny how gravity and star winds can create that effect of a cosmic ballet. Some of those areas look like flowers to me, but I can see the resemblance to a ballet.




I look forward to what it will look like. That will give me an idea what an image at 2400mm is going to produce too. It could be a long season for imaging this region for me. Just need to get my STXL back.:question:

[DaveNZ]

Wonderful image Paul. One of your best.

I'm interest in how you blended the narrow band info with LRGB.

Do you know if you can do this with PI ?

[Paul Haese]

Hi Chris I blended the LRGB to the SII Ha OIII via lighten mode with an opacity of around 46% so that I got the RGB stars. I then blended the OIII to the blue channel (just to enhance the blues) and the Ha went to luminance (this was for detail which I sharpened a lot in some areas just for that purpose). Each with varying opacity (its all about how it looks). The important thing to remember is not to let the Ha dominate too much and produce salmon colours (not an easy task and I am unconvinced this is the right colour scheme, but it look ok). It took some fiddling to get right or close to being what I wanted. Prior to the blend I worked on a combined image of the narrow band data. Essentially I got the NB looking correct first before attempting any of the blending.

I don't use PI, so I could not tell you that if PI would do the same but I imagine it would do that. Someone with PI experience would certainly have the answer for you.