Fox-Cat-Chicken in quantum superposition

[Placidus]

We've had fun spending ages examining magnificent Lambda Centauri nebulae by Chris, Paul, Geert, Mike S, Slawomir, DJScotty, and of course Fred's APOD.

They're all utterly different, the one to the next, but one thing is common: they all show much more OIII and SII than we did. Consequently, we've had a go at reprocessing our shot from last year. Red SII 2hrs, Green H-alpha 2hrs, Blue OIII 2hrs, all in 1hr subs.

Again, compared with say Eta Carinae, or the Tarantula, or similar extra-violent H-alpha regions with lots of OB stars that have recently gone supernova, the Lambda Centauri nebula is much quieter and gentler, and relatively lacking in SII and OIII. We are reluctant to force what genuinely isn't there, so we've aimed for a gentler look, broadly similar to Chris's but slightly wider field, and aiming to preserve some darkest detail in the largest Bok globules.

Others have identified the cigar as being smoked by a wily fox. We see a Shroedinger's Fox, in quantum superposition with a cat. Both faces are simultaneously smoking a smug post-prandial the cigar after having eaten the chicken. We do not approve. The cigar itself looks like a Pythonesque forearm and hand, pointing dramatically to the left.

There is a very fine shock front at the very bottom of the image, and some craggy, burning-coals cliff-face sort of stuff toward eight o'clock.

Screen-size version here. (http://www.mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-XTVQGBH/0/X3/Cat%20and%20cigar-X3.jpg)

Original (4 MB) version here. (http://www.mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-XTVQGBH/0/O/Cat%20and%20cigar.jpg)

Aspen CG16M on 20" PlaneWave. Field 36'arc. 3nM filters. All observatory and processing software written in house.

Best,
Mike n Trish

[strongmanmike]

Rather Hubbleish that Mike and Trish :thumbsup:

Now, just to get all that you have put together there outside Orange...in to orbit :D...if anyone could do it, you could :lol:

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike n Trish,
beautiful image - keep them coming.

cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

That's a very nice narrowband image. Good work.

Greg.

[SimmoW]

Lovely, with that lower Neb it kind of looks like a night mountain landscape scene.

[Slawomir]

Truly awesome image, grandeur symphony of vibrant cosmic light...
:violin::violin::violin:


I love those gentle blue smoky structures in particular, and the globules are presented with such rich detail.

Thank you Mike and Trish for demonstrating us what one must strive for in astrophotography.

[RickS]

Fantastic detail and the nebula colour is great, Mike & Trish. I would have liked you to take it further and do something about the stars (magenta halos, red stars, and general hardness) but that could just be my anal retentive streak :)

Cheers,
Rick.

[SpaceNoob]

very nice :)

Such a wide field from a 20"....I like the colours a lot!

You are right, the Oiii is a bit weak on this target, I needed about 10hours worth to really do anything with it.

[Andy01]

Very 3D and a pleasing colour palatte, have to agree with Rick sbout losing/rrplacing the stars with RGB ones though. Nice work guys :)

[Placidus]

Thanks everyone heaps for the encouragement and useful advice.




Thanks hugely, Mike. Had a mini-tornado last month. Almost did get into orbit. We might have to think about having something that shuts the dome when the wind hits 40KPH, so the bottom flap doesn't get torn from its hinges. Seeing and tracking gets a bit dodgy above say 35KPH anyway.



Thanks, Allan. Gear is working nicely now. The easter rain is good for the grass, I suppose.



Thanks, Greg.



Superb description! Cheers!



Aw, shucks. Delighted to be getting closer. Thank you!



Fair comment. We did control about 90% of it - it was MUCH worse before. The scientist in me says who cares about "stars that burn with purple light ... stop your fussing boy" as that singer, the one who did "the dead are dancing", said, but they are distracting.



Thanks, colleague. :)



Thanks Andy. If you like the colour, we know we're heading in roughly the right direction! Meanwhile, more work on those pesky stars.

[DJScotty]

Beautiful. "No words"

[Paul Haese]

Lots to like about the image Mike and Trish. Good detail, nice 3d feel and colour is pleasing overall. Perhaps a little more green than I would like myself,but it is dealers choice. I think you could get the striations in the gas clouds showing up a but more with some subtle selective contrast enhancement. Dealing with star colour can be a pain too. If you are concerned about the colour, try doing a screen layer of an image which is constituted as Ha SII OIII. You will have to be careful with the opacity, but I have found this works to correct star colour, especially when having done a selective colour mask first.

[multiweb]

One of your best Mike, I reckon. Bok are Hubblesque and colors and details are outstanding. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Ross G]

Amazing photo Mike & Trish...wow!

So sharp...so detailed.

I love the smooth tones.

Great composition.

I agree with Marc...one of your best!

Ross.

[rustigsmed]

very hubble - I love it great work guys!

[gvanhau]

I like it,
Very sharp and nice colors.

Geert

[Andy01]

Pardon the hack Mike,

I've posted a thread in the AP discussion section about star removal techniques. It may be of interest to NB imaging folks here and I would value your input :)

Apologies again for the intrusion.
Andy

[Placidus]

Thanks, Paul. I'm really struggling with the magenta halo thing. Although I regard it as purely cosmetic, I want to get to grips with it. By "screen layer of an image which is constituted as Ha SII OIII" do you mean mapping a copy of the image to R=Ha G=SII B=OIII and then using something like PhotoShop LAYER --> SCREEN to combine with the R=SII G=Ha B=OIII version?

Best,
Mike




Highy relevant and timely !! Will have a look.

Cheers,
Mike

[Placidus]

Once again sorry about late reply. Drove back to Sydney from the farm to find the longest blackout in 20 years. We had organized a small dinner party which degenerated into nibbles by candle-light. Can report that despite the blackout, Penrith sky remained bright orange.



:)



Thanks muchly, Marc!



Thanks, Ross, we're delighted.



Cheers, Rusty.



Thank you, Geert.

[dvj]

Top shelf image mate. Now about those magenta stars. I tried this on your full res image with excellent results.

load file to Photoshop
Select filters, noise

Basic, Default

Strength 0
Preserve detail 0
Sharpen details 0

Reduce color noise slider: 50% to 80% (to taste) In preview mode, note how the magenta halos around the stars is reduced. Not 100%, but a much better result. Experiment.

Vola, your done.

Stunning result!

- John Gleason

jg

[Placidus]

Thanks, John :)

I had a go and your suggestion works as advertised. The down-side is that it slightly blurs the colour in non-stellar regions. One could work around that using an inverted star mask.

Cheers,
Mike

[Leonardo70]

Very nice.

All the best,
Leo