LBN468 - more northern dust

[RickS]

LBN468 is from Lynd's catalogue of "bright" nebulae as opposed to the LDN dark nebulae. This field also includes some LDNs and also a bunch of Herbig-Haro objects. The most famous, but still not very well known, of these is a bipolar reflection nebula named after its discoverer, Gyulbudaghian's Nebula. It is also known as Herbig-Haro 215 and is the small fan-shaped object at around 4 o'clock. It is a variable nebula and changes significantly in appearance over relatively short periods of time. There is some interesting detail in this area at 2x drizzle resolution that I'll post when I get a chance to process a close-up version.

Captured at SRO in California:
Scope: FSQ-106ED
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: QSI683
Filters: Astrodon Gen II LRGB
Guiding: QSI OAG + Lodestar
Image scale: 2.094 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 34x900s L, 15x900s R, 16x900s G, 15x900s B (20 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

High res versions here: http://www.astrobin.com/172686/B/

As usual, I'm not completely happy with the processing. These dusty ones I find particularly difficult. Happy to entertain constructive comments, thanks...

Cheers,
Rick.

[Rod771]

Fascinating field Rick! I love these dusty objects.

I think it's quite easy to "over" process them when trying to reveal faint detail but this image looks good. :thumbsup:

Look forward to the 2x drizzle version. :)

[RickS]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rod :) I do like these fields but they are challenging!

[DJT]

Awesome image, Rick. The dust really does pop. I can't add anything constructive, lack of experience etc, other than forwarding an interesting link to a YouTube posting from the astroimaging channel on processing the iris nebula using PI. Another heavy dust area.

https://youtu.be/apu-3iX8Xgw

[niharika]

Looks like seeing at SRO is getting effected by these clouds!! High res version is amazing. Are you doing masked stretch at any step of your processing Rick?

[SpaceNoob]

Great image Rick, dust looks cool, i like it a lot.

My only criticism is the fainter stars being the one colour. Likely they got tied up in some of your colour masking? This would look pretty unreal if the stars had the typical FSQ look to them, i.e many colourful jewels spread through the field :)

[Tony_]

Fantastic image Rick. I like the 3D appearance of the dust.

Tony.

[Paul Haese]

Looks pretty good to me Rick. Smooth back ground, good detail. Maybe a touch red cast to the fainter dust, but nothing really in it; its just how I would like to see it only. Certainly a 3D look to the image.

[RickS]

Thanks, David. The Iris is a close neigbour (another mosaic panel away) so I'll be interested to watch the video.



Thanks, Raki. I have played with MaskedStretch starting with the old script and also the newer process but I've rarely been happy with the results. It usually creates artifacts that I have to patch up - things like hard cores on stars. I didn't use it on this image.

Cheers,
Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks, Chris. I think most of the stars are seen through the dust and are reddened. There's a few bright bluish stars that I presume are closer than the dust. So, I could have played with the colour more but I believe it's more realistic this way. Not that I'm a huge stickler for realism :)



Thanks, Tony!



Ta, Paul. Maybe a little too red overall. I did an earlier version with a more neutral tone and more blue. Perhaps something in between would be better. I find it a tough call to judge the colour balance. I once hoped that tools like eXcalibrator would help but the results still looked pretty random!

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Another great dust processing job Rick, better than your M81/82 shot too IMO, although there were no big famous background galaxies to have to deal with at the same time too of course. I recon the red, or more correctly magenta :D is likely there from some weak HII emission.

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike. Funny you should mention it... there was a heap of very deep red lurking in the dark areas. I could have been mistaken of course, and maybe it was magenta! I might have another go and try to bring it out rather than kill it with desat to make the background black. There's also some nice red Ha knots in a jet from HH215 that I'd like to bring out in a crop of that area.

[RobF]

Love these "dust buster" images, and IMHO you've really done this one justice Rick. Agree with earlier comments about 3D feel. Nice contrast between dust and background space/stars without looking over processed.

Thanks for sharing.

[Maurice]

Great looking image Rick..
Have to agree with Paul about the red cast though..

Other examples of this area such as http://www.pbase.com/image/139730131 seem to show more star color. I guess it comes down to personal preference - don't know which is more representative of the area...

Excellent result regardless.

Cheers
Maurice

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob & Maurice.

I haven't used eXcalibrator for a while but I might give it a go and see what it thinks about the colour ratios...

Cheers,
Rick.

[gvanhau]

Nice object;
... to far North for me however....

I also see a small red cast, but like the overall result.

[RickS]

Thanks, Geert.

I did an eXcalibrator colour calibration and redid the colour ratios to match. It's a little less red. Thanks for the feedback, folks!

Here's the new version: http://www.astrobin.com/172686/B/

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir]

I would not be expecting anything less from you Rick, in short, awesome image from your guidescope! The gas clouds really give the image a lovely 3D effect.

However, I have noticed this time it is only 20 hrs of integration... ;)

[Peter Ward]

Needs a bigger chip....

Sublime in every other respect. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Slawomir. It is a great little scope and we take what we can get in terms of integration time :)



Thanks, Peter. The KAF-8300 wouldn't have been my first choice for this set up but we had to use what was available. We're about to switch to some new and better gear at SRO and I'm looking forward to taking better advantage of the seeing on sub arcsecond nights :D

[marc4darkskies]

Smokin'!!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVOa3xhl0bg) :thumbsup:

[ozstronomer]

Wow!! Fantastic image Rick, lovely balance between dust and background. Really does have a 3D effect.

Well done :thumbsup:

Geoff

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Beautiful work Rick!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks for posting these Northern objects.
Just a little bit envious.:)

Cheers,

Justin.

[RickS]

Thanks, Marcus!



Ta, Geoff. Hope you're feeling better.



Thanks, Justin. I'm like a kid in a toyshop :lol:

[Bassnut]

Top 3d effect and excellent colour.

[alpal]

Hi Rick,
that's a top class picture - keep them coming.

cheers
Allan

[RickS]

Thanks Fred & Allan!

[Stevec35]

Excellent work Rick! That Cepheus is certainly a dusty constellation. When are you going to do the Iris?

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve. Funny you should mention the Iris. I'm just looking through the SRO data I haven't processed yet and the Iris is one of the many objects in there. I'll try to get to it soon.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Rick.

I love the dust and colours!

A new object for me.

Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Ross.

[Geoff45]

Beautiful stuff Rick. Congrats on getting IOTD in Astrobin.
Geoff

[RickS]

Thanks, Geoff! Working on another dusty one now. I must be a glutton for punishment ;)

[astronobob]

Outstanding Imaging Rick, the 3D appearance is the best ive seen - Top Shelf stuff you talented person you ;) :P

[cometcatcher]

What an awesome image! When I was growing up, astronomy books never had images like these even from the pro observatories. It's a whole new universe now days. Makes one wonder what the future will bring.

[RickS]

Thanks, Bob & Kevin. This is definitely a golden age for amateur astrophotography!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Leonardo70]

Great Shot Rick !! Congrats.
Just a little red cast to remove for me.

All the best,
Leo

[RickS]

Thanks, Leo.