The Running Chicken AP RHA REPRO

[gregbradley]

183554I took this over several nights. I wasted about 3 hours of images as one night had bad seeing.

AP RHA 305 F3.8, PMX, MMOAG and STi guiding, FLI Atlas focuser, Astrodon Gen 2 filters.

This is HaLRGB. I came up with my own Ha blend formula for this one and I quite like it. I most likely will be using it next time I do a HaLRGB blend which will be often.

Taken at my home observatory. There's a small planetary nebula to the bottom left of the image.


http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160384728/large regular size

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160384728/original large size

Here is the Hydrogen Alpha image:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160385049 regular size

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160385049/original large size

Greg.

[DJScotty]

impressive Mr Bradley. :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Very nice indeed Greg! The sharpness is most impressive.

Cheers

Steve

[multiweb]

Wow! Massive field. Sharp as. You should use flats though, you've got two extra boks at 5 o'clock.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that. I am surprised at how it turned out in that I took some Ha at my dark site a while ago and the ones I took at home look identical which is good news.



Thanks Steve. Yes AP lives up to its sharpness reputation here for sure.
The Atlas mean exact focus is easy plus it has temperature compensation which I am starting to use (once I know the exact steps per 1C change).



This does have flats. Oh I see in the Ha image. Yes I processed that out in the colour. I'll fix that now. That is some type of artefact. Not sure what causes it. Its one of those erratic processing artifacts.

Greg.

[IanP]

Geezzz Greg, this is a fantom :P late-season CHUCK, but MIKE(the strongman) will be extremely happy to draw its beak :rofl:

[DavidTrap]

Finger lickin' good!

Very impressive to see such a wide and flat field! How often are you refocusing at f3.8?

DT

[gregbradley]

Yes its shape is a bit vague.




Thanks David. I have been refocusing around every hour or so.
Focus does not shift much. Around 25 Atlas focuser steps for every 1C change in temperature. The Atlas has 105,000 steps over 10mm of travel so that is a very small adjustment.

Greg.

[marco]

Nice Greg, this rooster is always tasty no matter how you cook it :)
I would suggest a bit brighter version, it looks too dark on my monitor (in particular on the shadow areas) and this does not help the faintest part of the image to pop out..
Cheers
Marco

[rat156]

Hi Greg,

This is a very nice image. I'm not sure that HaRGB does this target justice, there's heaps more info in the NB versions. But what you see is what you get with LRGB! It's also a great FOV and has insipid me to image the Gum 39/IC 2872 part of the image with my scope. I got some nice Ha data last night before the clouds rolled in.

Thanks for sharing the image.

Cheers
Stuart

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marco. I have posted another version which is a bit brighter.



Thanks Stuart. I've also done it in Narrowband with an AP140 at my dark site under good seeing here:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/150457992/large

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/150457992/original

Narrowband pushes stars to the background so the details do tend to show more as a result.

Greg.

[jase]

Enjoyed the Ha version Greg. Lovely sharp details. The Ha blend with RGB is pleasing though may need shorter subs to get star colours back. Perhaps consider blending in 10% or 20% of the Ha data into the blue channel as well as the blend appears to have suppressed some of the reflection neb. 600s for narrowband subs is insane aint it! Fast scopes have their perks.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Jase. This is an unusual blend and it has reduced the stars a bit. I think there was more star colour there originally. I might need to repro back earlier a bit and do a star mask. There was also 16% Ha as blue at one point. Yes 10 minute Ha subs seem quite solid and strong.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Hi, Greg,

I also particularly like the fine sharp detail of the H-alpha version.

Best,
Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. I just finished a repro of this one as I wasn't happy with how the stars worked out. This one respects the stars yet still gets detail I the nebula. Its the best I can get out of this data. I tried many variants.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Nice results Greg, you fitted the whole chicken in too - nice :thumbsup: Really starting to see the Honderishness now :thumbsup: I like the Ha only version best.

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike.

I am particularly happy as this shows the Honders will work at home not just at Bigga.

I know what you mean the colour one has been difficult. I think as pointed out by someone it does best in narrowband. The subtle flows of the nebula tend to get lost in the LRGB mix.

The RHA does have a slightly unique look to its images. They are certainly very flat, like a giant FSQ. I think its the fact its corrected for all 6 optical aberrations.

I might do a narrowband version.

Greg.

[RickS]

A very nice Chook, Greg! I like the Ha version best.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rick. A lot of people said they preferred the Ha. I think I'll get some narrowband data for it as I think it presents best as a narrowband object.

Greg.

[Ross G]

Beautiful colour and detail Greg.

So sharp!.

I love the monochrome version.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross. I think I will do a repro on this one as looking at it again after doing processing today I think I can achieve a better Ha blend and level of detail.

Greg.

[Slawomir]

I like both images Greg, however, mono is looking sharper. There is a tiny nebula in the bottom left - I have not seen it before.

[gregbradley]

Yes the mono shows a lot more detail. That's what I need to address it the colour image. That is a planetary nebula at the bottom left. Cool eh?

Greg.