Churchill's Cigar and Thackeray's Globules

[strongmanmike]

Considering the lack of clear skies around here lately :scared: and the fact that this image was composed from 10hrs of data collected over two nights, one with a 3/4 gibbous moon (last Sunday) and the other a 100% full moon (last night) in the sky and I use the broader 12nm bandpass Astronomiks...I am very happy with how this came together :)

There are some high contrast narrowband examples of this area out there that give a more solid blocky look to the nebulosity and they look good but I decided to process to keep a more subtle gaseous wispy look to the nebulosity for the Thackeray (Bok) Globules and Churchill's Cigar to float in while still hopefully keeping some of the 3D appearance that narrowband signal provides...? Of course I wanted some nice vibrant colour too :D

Worth noting that no darks or flats were used on this occasion nor did I use any noise reduction and very little sharpening was used...it was surprisingly easy to process actually.

Full Frame image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/159319372/original)

Churchills Cigar and Thackeray's Globules (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/159328044/original) 100% resolution crop of the good bits

Thackeray's (Bok) Globules (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/159384220/original)

Enjoy
Mike

[Andy01]

Wow! I never thought the insides of a chook could be so beautiful, that's stunning :)

[strongmanmike]

Here is a map to assist Andy :)

[pmrid]

That explains why chooks say " Bok, bok, bok, bok, bokkark!"
Peter

[gregbradley]

That's a phenomenal image Mike. No hint of the moon in that. That is amazing. I see moon gradients with 5nm filters.

Greg.

[stevous67]

That is excellent. A wonderful image to browse through.

Steve

[RickS]

Great detail there, Mike! Must had had decent seeing at least :)

[marc4darkskies]

Hmmmmm, it's a bit bland Mike - it needs a bit of wow/pop factor. Adding some overall curves and then reducing the blue (just a little bit) really makes it pop (I tried it :))

PS: You have some excellent detail there!

[atalas]

Excellent work Mike!

[multiweb]

Great details in the bok globules. :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Nice work Mike,
keep turning them out.

cheers
Allan

[NOMH]

Great capture Mike. I like the color and overall smoothness and I think this makes the Bok's stand out.

JB

[strongmanmike]

Yeah that was what I was surprised about, having said that I am sure the image would have been a bit better taken under moonless conditions :thumbsup:



Thanks so much Steve, glad you enjoyed it :)



Thanks Rick, yes the seeing was ok and while slightly variable, the subs coming down across the meridian were pretty good both nights :thumbsup:



Yes the seeing wasn't too bad :thumbsup:

Bland huh :question: :sad:... Fair'nuf :)







Thanks Louie, Marc... and Allan...well I would if the weather would cooperate :scared: :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers John, yes the Bok's stand out a little better in narrowband, better than RGB

Mike

[Placidus]

Even chickens get the blues!

I like it a lot. Very different feel. The "Churchill's Cigar" part in particular stands out very well. (I always thought that was the pile of feathers where the fox got the chook - didn't realize it was cigar smoke).

Lovely and lots of fun.
Best,
Mike

[Ryderscope]

I'm not sure what I enjoyed more about this post, the witty chook comments or the stunning image. Thanks for a wow image Mike.

[SpaceNoob]

How awesome are boks/globs!? I love them! Nice work Mike :D

[DJT]

Whoa, the detail in the Boks is quite something. I didn't know about Winstons Cigar so am now feeling educated.

[Regulus]

Excellent image Mike. The crop is a nice composition too.
I like the full image of IC 2994 that you have with it. Lovely stuff.

Trev

[Bassnut]

Excellent detail on the glogs Mike, they came out well. Love the saturated blue colour balance.

[prokyon]

Hi Mike,

what a stunning picture! You know how to do! :) This weekend I was at the Central European Deepsky Imaging Conference in Linz/Austria. Don Goldman was there too. With some friends I had discussions about filters, Astrodon vs. Baader vs. Astronomik and so on. I use Astronomik filters and it is always a pleasure to see your results. One goal for Astronomik ;)

Cheers

Werner

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Mike, I think finding shapes in nebulae is one of the funnest things in astrophotography and I am so glad I am not alone in this affliction :P



A hen crossed the road and saw a spy approaching, the hen said "what's your name" the spy said "Bond, James Bond, what's yours?" The hen replied "I'm Chick, Chick-hen" :cheers:



Thanks and yes, Boks are exthackeray the same things :question: :face:



Cheers Dave, yes that feature, especially in narrowband, always reminds me of a cigar :)



Thanks Tev, glad the colours didn't bore you :)



Glogs?...ah yes :question: tetrahedral frozen blue lemonade ice blocks...?



Cheers Werner :)

Yes I have only ever used Astronomik filters for over 10 years now, I am a big advocate and have no intention of swapping brands anytime soon :thumbsup: actually only ever used Astroart too... I am pretty conservative when it comes to my astrogear, if it works stick with it I recon :lol:

Mike

[cd_design]

Great images

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Col :)

[Rod771]

Very nice image Mike! Lovely detail and colour.

Must be wonderful to be out imaging DSO's under a full moon. Not wasting the clear nights that often coincide. The only thing I image during full moon is well.... The full moon. :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rod



Well, yes, I guess so :question:.... better to look up and see a dark sky with the Milky Way stretching overhead though and with 12nm filters the full Moon does drop the contrast a little. I have a set of the new 6nm SIIHaOIII Astronomiks coming soon though, this should help.

Funnily enough, here in Canberra we are having our 3rd clear night in a row tonight :rolleyes:...but I am too tired to drive out again :zzz2:

Mike

[Shiraz]

Cracking good images Mike - tops. regards Ray

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Ray...and I like the subtle chicken (egg) reference you made there clever ;) :rofl:

Mike

[Leonardo70]

Really nice Mike. Congrats.

All the best,
Leo

[strongmanmike]

Grazie Leo :)

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Stunning image Mike!!

You really nailed the colours, great feeling of depth too.

Cheers,

Justin.

[E_ri_k]

Nice Mike, I like the blue touch :thumbsup:
Erik

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Justin and Erik, glad you liked the blue :lol:

Mike

[Ross G]

A great looking photo Mike.

I love the detail.

Ross,

[strongmanmike]

Hope you like blue too :2thumbs: :lol:

Mike

[astronobob]

Funny the mention of a chooks anatomy, that bright orange bit 'top left quad' reminds me of an egg yoke which sometimes has a bit like that in it, often wonder if it fertilized & may have started to develope :rofl: :screwy:

Anywho - really dig the sky blues in this, along with the wispyness and other funky colors :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

"The half developed chicken embryo yoke nebula"...?

Hmm?..not quite the same ring huh?

Glad you like the blue...I do like blue, wonder if I am colour blind :question:

Mike

[SkyViking]

Very nicely done Mike, the globules look really intriguing and detailed - and of course the colours are great, love the blues! It has a similar appearance as the colour palette that resulted when I experimented with NIR-G-B channel combination on a couple of nebulae. This one I still have to bag though, it's been on my list for a while... :)

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rolf, glad you like it, yours is definitely an opinion that I value :thumbsup:

Mike

[TR]

Nice image Mike. I really love the blues that you pull out. Your a master at colour.:thumbsup:

Terry

[strongmanmike]

Well...dunno about a master Terry :driving: I do like blue though :thumbsup:

Cheers

Mike

[LewisM]

Never in the field of astrophotography has so much detail been imaged by so few and admired by so many...

Or something like that, said in a pucker Churchillian drawl

[momodosa]

I'm manager of Korean Amateur Astronomers Group and I would like to post your picture on our website. Is that OK?
If you don't mind, please write a short greetings for the member of SYAAG(Share Yourself Amateur Astronomers Group) and send it to my email(oxyjung@gmail.com). I will post your greetings on our website and I will send back their reactions to you. You possibly can have a Korean fan of you because they must be interested in the astrophotographer from Southern Hemisphere. I'm looking forward to your answer. :)
(Our website address is http://cafe.naver.com/shareyourself. It is mostly in Korean but only category menu is in English.)

[strongmanmike]

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their image, but by the content of their image.

Martin Luther Imager, Jr.

:)

[strongmanmike]

Glad you enjoyed the view Yeon-Sung, email sent :)