Finished the Veil mosaic, I hope!

[RickS]

I think I'm happy with the Veil at last, at least for a day or two ;) It's still a bit out there so some will find it not to their taste and that's fine.

As you all know, the Veil nebula is a supernova remnant in the northern constellation of Cygnus. This is a 2x3 panel bi-colour (Ha/OIII) mosaic with RGB stars.

Equipment used was a Takahashi FSQ-106ED scope, QSI-683 camera and Paramount ME mount. The gear is set up at SRO in California and I share it with a small group of keen imagers.

Each panel consists of roughly 8 hours of Ha, 8 hours of OIII and 24 minutes of RGB. The total is about 98 hours. Narrowband subs were all 1800 seconds. The data quality was quite good, so I was able to use drizzle to get an image scale of approx 1 arcsecond/pixel. That resulted in a mosaic of 144 megapixels which was very time consuming to process, even on a fairly fast multicore system with 24GB of RAM and a couple of SSD drives. All processing was done in PixInsight, BTW.

Higher res images are on Astrobin. I did a few crops because it's hard to take the whole mosaic in on a screen.

Full Veil (half res): http://www.astrobin.com/143114/
Witch's Broom (0.75 res): http://www.astrobin.com/143126/
Pickering's Triangle (0.75 res): http://www.astrobin.com/143124/
Eastern Veil (0.75 res): http://www.astrobin.com/143123/


Hope you enjoy the images. feedback appreciated as always...

Cheers,
Rick.

[omegacrux]

Amazing , wow

David

[blink138]

just mind blowing rick, nothing else from me!
pat

[RickS]

Thanks David & Pat!

[AG Hybrid]

Good grief! Shouldn't you be sending these to NASA or something? At least submit the full Veil to APOD.

[IanP]

Gee, Rick, they are jaw-dropping !!! My favourite is the full-frame version …
:bowdown:

[Slawomir]

98 hours...you certainly don't do things by halves Rick!

A great image that inspires :)

[RickS]

Thanks Adrian, Ian & Slawomir! An APOD would be nice but there are a lot of great images out there. One day, perhaps...

Cheers,
Rick.

[Kunama]

Awesome images Rick !!!!

[gregbradley]

A remarkable image Rick. Reminds me of the Rob Gendler days when he would post marathon efforts like this.

Greg.

[lazjen]

Simply amazing and I agree that it's APOD worthy.

How many actual nights of image gathering were required for this?

[RickS]

Thanks, Matt!



Very kind of you, Greg!



Thanks, Chris. Looks like we collected data over a total of 39 nights from mid August to early September. We were imaging other targets at the same time.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Placidus]

Just astonishing, Rick. Run out of superlatives. Chillingly good. Best, Mike.

[Paul Haese]

A mega project with heaps of detail. Definitely striking and worthy of an APOD. The full res of the mosaic is really interesting to wander around.

I do have a question though. Where does the orange and green come from if this was bi colour?

[strongmanmike]

Been away over Chrissy Rick and just got on IIS and this was the first image I noticed (and had been waiting for)...t'is pretty wow mate :thumbsup:

Yeah perhaps a couple of warts here and there but maaaate lot's of work went in here so I ain't sayin a thang..and who cares??! :thumbsup: loved all the crops and looked at them all..the floating wizzard throwing the electric fire bolt from his left hand is awesome!

It was screeming at me to see the entire full res image though...looove to see that and pan around :thumbsup:

Remote data, aaand a big mozaic...very well done :)

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike!



Thanks, Paul. The "high res" on Astrobin is still half size. That brought the jpg file down from 72 MB to only 16 MB :)

The image is bi-colour in the sense that I only had Ha and OIII data but I used brightness to modulate the hue. The "flaming Ha Veil" was a first experiment with this idea. My intention was to add more interest to false colour images based on less than three "colours." This exposes detail that is hidden in the data but difficult to see as clearly in a conventional bi-colour so, IMHO at least, it's more than a mere trick for artistic effect.



Thanks, your Mikeness :D I have been thinking that I need to set up a web site so I can have a Zoomify version of the full res mosaic. Like I need a new project :lol:

I'm sure I missed some warts and there were a couple I noticed but just didn't have the energy to fix. I'm trying not to get completely obsessive about this processing thing.

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

A good approach, OCD and phantasmagoria set in quickly otherwise :lol:

Mike

[Joshua Bunn]

Incredible Rick, really applaud your efforts and dedication. Awesome!

[dvj]

Awesome and well done. The saturation and color is over the top and I like it.

jg

[RickS]

Thanks Joshua & John!

[cometcatcher]

I think I used up my allowance of expletives for the year. ;) Such an awesome work!

[multiweb]

Never say never ;) Terrific work Rick. Print it out in a big mural right up the wall. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Absolutely gorgeous shots Rick, and what massive effort which clearly paid off :thumbsup: The colour scheme is unusual, but very striking and good for visualising the various parts of the nebula - I like it :) If you do make a 'traditionally' coloured version too then it'll be a truly awesome collection of views together with these. Well done :)

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Magnificent Rick!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Stunning detail, worth the many hours spent.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Bassnut]

Absolutely jaw dropping, I cant believe it :P.
You have just progressed to masterfull Astro high art Rick, amongst the best ive seen, truly inspiring :eyepop: :bowdown:

[RickS]

@#&$* thanks, Kevin :)



Ta, Marc. I think I will print this one. At 300 dpi I'll have to crop it a little to get it down to A0 size.



Thanks, Rolf. I appreciate your comments. I plan to have a little break to work on my ColorMask script for PI and then have a go at a more traditional palette. The data is great so it's worth the time to make the best of it.



Ta, Justin!



Thanks, Fred. Might just have been good luck. I have to do it a few more times to get my advanced processing badge ;)

Cheers,
Rick.

[atalas]

Looks great!well done Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks, Louie!

[PRejto]

Bravissimo!!! Like others have said words fail. And like others I think this will win some top honors assuming you submit it for consideration.

(98 hours! I'm lucky when I get 98 minutes!)

Peter

[Leonardo70]

Stunning Rick ... this is a giant epic image !!

All the best,
Leo

[RickS]

Thanks, Peter & Leo!

A friend has just printed me a copy at A2 size and it looks fantastic. I have the resolution to go A0 at 300dpi if I can find a large enough space on a wall.

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Post a photo of you standing beside it when you have hung it, love to see that :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

It's a deal. If I look small you know I decided to spend big on the largest print I could get :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Of course...arhem :whistle: you will need to beat THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141786362/original) and THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/137782284/original) :P

Again, awesome image Ricki, so print it big :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Very impressive, Mike! Perhaps I'll have to rent the huge electronic advertising sign I can see from my office window :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Maybe H&M (http://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/enormous-h-m-signs-to-rise-above-times-square) didn't go ahead...? :shrug:

:D

[RickS]

How tacky... unlike the rest of Times Square :lol:

[strongmanmike]

I recon your rendition of the Veil :eyepop:would fit in perfectly :D

[PeterM]

2014 every amateur image I have seen this year, many many great ones and you win on the last day of the year. Unbelievable image, attention to detail is stunning.

[Slawomir]

Our restaurant in Milton has freshly painted (and empty) walls... :)

[RickS]

Thanks very much, Peter!



If it turns out nicely perhaps I could lend it to you, Slawomir.

[rogerg]

Geepers! That's a stunner. So much data and processing effort put in to that - what an achievement!

[RickS]

Thanks, Roger. I appreciate everybody's kind comments.

[Regulus]

Stunning. Just.... stunning.

[Amaranthus]

Magnificent Rick. When I first looked at it I felt it might have been a bit bright-saturated around the rim of the nebula, but further contemplation has me thinking that the balance is just right. You can really appreciate the ancient shockwaves! Lovely.

[RickS]

Thanks, Trevor & Barry!

[sjastro]

That's quite an accomplishment Rick.
Well done!

Steven

[DJT]

Beautiful image Rick, colours are excellent. Well done.:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks Steven & David.

[marc4darkskies]

Wow! Extremely impressive effort and result Rick! :thumbsup: A feast for the eyes at full res too!

Cheers, Marcus

[RickS]

Thank you, Marcus!

[SimmoW]

Absolutely gobsmacking on my new 4k monitor Rick!!

[RobF]

Heck Rick, this one is just awesome. I'm worried how much grey hair you may have gained processing such an ambitious mosaic. Whatever you did it worked though. Salute!

[RickS]

Thanks Simon & Rob!

Any additional grey hair I might have is probably from work, Rob :)

[Ross G]

An absolutely stunning photo Rick.

Amazing detail!

Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Ross.

[Shiraz]

Crikey Rick, that's an outstanding effort and a top shelf image. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks very much, Ray!

[RickS]

Got back from Sydney today to find a parcel at the office, Mike :thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Wow! That photo will surely require heavy duty bolts for hanging on the wall!

[strongmanmike]

:eyepop:....ooooooooh exciiiiteeeed, can't wait to see it hanging on the wall, make sure you post another shot of you with it in situ :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

It's not too heavy, Slawomir. It's printed on aluminium with a fairly lightweight frame.



Will do, Mike. Have to find a place to hang it now. Probably in my office at work. Our wall space at home is limited by lots of windows and bi-fold doors and we have a lot of nice paintings already. Getting spousal approval might be problematic ;)