M78 in the constellation of Orion with MINI Data

[TR]

In the spirt of Mega-Data, well, this isn’t. I have around 3.5 hour’s data. You know the blurb, its Messier 78, a diffuse reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion at a distance of around 1600 light years from us. The dust clouds are illuminated by two stars with the wonderful names of HD 38563A and HD 38563B. The object was a little dimmer than I first thought.
Imaged on the 19th of Dec 2014 from Heathcote, Vic.

Image Details
13 X 600 Lum 130 min 2.1 hours
8 X 240 2X2 Bin Red 32 min 0.5 hours
8 X 240 2X2 Bin Green 32 min 0.5 hours
8 X 240 2X2 Bin Blue 32 min 0.5 hours

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97807083@N00/16299730215/in/set-72157646565068452

Terry

[multiweb]

Superb shot. Beautiful colors and details. :thumbsup:

[TR]

Thanks Marc. I like the trippy colours as well.

Terry

[stevous67]

It looks great Terry. Mini data is fine too, especially when the weather is lousy. Like others have suggested, it pushes your processing skills.

Steve

[strongmanmike]

Yep, yet another fine example of modest data showing it's value :thumbsup:

Really liked looking at this, perhaps a little more red might lift it but really great stuff none the less Terry :2thumbs:

Mike

[TR]

Thanks Steve and Mike. Perhaps I should have pushed it a bit harder in the red. I know there is a bit of red floating about from Bernards Loop. It's a relaxing and soothing palette :)

Terry

[graham.hobart]

A favourite of mine to look at (never imaged it yet!) and yours is beautiful. It's a very interesting part of the sky and your pic does it justice. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Graham.

[TR]

Thanks Graham.

[Leonardo70]

Great image. Wonderful color.

All the best,
Leo

[RickS]

Very nice image, Terry, although you can see the limitations of the short exposure time at full resolution.

Cheers,
Rick.

[marc4darkskies]

Very nice Terry given it's quite a dim object and the small amount of data! I think the colours are good but as Mike said, a bit more red would be nice.

What's the extra diffraction spike in the bright star at the top of the frame? Unusual to see an artifact like that in only one star.

Cheers, Marcus

[batema]

Lovely image.

[Placidus]

I especially like the ultra-fine dust-lane texture in the lower patch. Texture reminiscent of the Fox-Fur nebula. Perhaps an up-side-down pleased-with-itself cat's face, with screwed-up eyes. Nice.

[TR]

Mike, I would like to assure you that no animals were hurt in creating this image. Thanks for the great comment.

Mark , thank you.

Marcus, yes, the mystery spike. I have been trying to determine where that is coming from. I believe it rotates in relation to the default secondary spikes. So, it must be from the rotator to image plane. The only thing that I can think is an OAG, but I am not sure. Look up through the guts, and I can’t see anything in there. Any ideas?

Rick, unfortunately, limited time that the weather gods allow, is all I have. After dragging all this stuff out, polar aligning, calibration, on a short summer’s night really cuts into available imaging time. We take what we can get.

Leo, thank you.

Terry

[Ross G]

Great looking closeup Terry.

Nice colours and detail.

I like the composition.

Ross.

[marc4darkskies]

Could be the OAG impinging on the light cone - not sure. Does the flattener rotate as well? I'd be taking a close look at it anyway. Even a spider web filament or a human hair on the glass can cause this kind of thing and both would be quite hard to see. Other than that ... :shrug: Are you sure it rotates?

[TR]

Ross, Thanks for the compliment. Only wish I had a little more data. Oh well.

Marcus, I cleaned out a few spider webs the other day. They really get in there. I would think that their webs would create a stationary spike. Everything from the rotator back rotates as one including the flattener. The secondary spikes are constant, and mystery guy seems to pivot with rotation. I will have to take everything apart and use those super doper magnifying glasses and a very bright light to explore further. To date, I have not been able to solve this.

Terry

[Stevec35]

Like it a lot Terry

Cheers

Steve

[Rod771]

Very nice detail Terry, well done! :thumbsup:

[SimmoW]

Beautiful, mystical Terry. It is what it is, a great image I reckon

[alistairsam]

Looks really good Terry, love the smoothness and pleasing palette.

Alistair

[Paul Haese]

One thing I really like about this image is the detail within the nebula. Both show great dust lane detail and I think that is something a little bit out of the ordinary.

I think the colour is fine. This object is a very subtle looking image with even high saturation.

A bit more time I think would produce a cracking image.

[strongmanmike]

Just had another look at this Terry...man, have to say t'is a really great subtle rendition of this area, liken it dude...liken it :thumbsup:

Mike

[TR]

Wow, thanks Steve, Rod, Simon, Alistair, Paul, and Mike. They are fantastic comments. Yes, a bit more data would be nice, but work, weather, and the skies all have to line up. Kind of like those astronomical events I hear so much about ;)

Terry