Bi-Colour Swan (mount fixed yay!)

[strongmanmike]

This was going to be a more traditional SIIHaOIII blend but unthinkably :eyepop: my beloved rock solid never given me any trouble in 10 years NJP mount, decided to throw a grub screw on a transfer gear and prevent me from being able to slew after the meridian flip :( ...I think I can fix it :question: :help:

Anyway, not sure when I will be able to gather the SII data now sooooo I threw what I had together into a Bi-Colour view of roughly HaOIIIOIII and luckily I had decided to collected a little bit of RGB earlier in the evening so I was able to tame the narrowband star colours a bit to match. I am really enjoying these narrower band pass 6nm Astronomik filters too :thumbsup:

Be interested to know what you think as although there are many tri colour narrowband and LRGB versions around there aren't very many BiColour M17's out there :)

Bi-Colour Swan (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/160507103/original)

[troypiggo]

Gorgeous. Really like that.

Do you mind if I ask what ratio did you mix the channels? I was playing around and had to boost the OIII by a bit to get a balance (3-5 times the Ha). Gives cyan stars similar to the magenta in SHO palette. Can you explain how you used the RGB data?

[Slawomir]

Very nice image Michael and excellent choice of colours - in particular I like how you represented the central part of the nebula.

[multiweb]

Looks great. Some terrific details in there. :thumbsup:
Bummer about the grab screw. Hope you've stopped everything and find the bugger. Hopefully no gear damage. :prey:

[Placidus]

Lovely, subtle, unforced nebulosity detail (without a hint of halos or worms). Pinpoint stars. Nice overall balance.

Hope the gearbox repair goes smoothly.

[TR]

Hi Mike. I have always liked Bi-Colour images. I haven't had the opportunity to image much, evil weather. The galactic clock does not wait on bad weather and the objects keep rolling on. The central part of the image is quite nice, the blues and whites flow nicely. Very nice image.

Terry

[Andy01]

Hi Mike, it looks great. You beat me to posting an image of the same target as I too am waiting for clouds to clear over Melbourne to add S2 & O3 to mine.
I like Bicolour images and although sometimes they lack depth from the missing tricolour bandwidth, your colour palatte is well chosen, well done sir :)
Good luck with the repairs, it's seriously painful when stuff breaks.

[Geoff45]

Great image Mike.Lots of sharp detail in the inner regions. Have you tried experimenting by mixing 20-30% H alpha with the OIII in the blue channel? This simulates the H beta emission. There is an informative article by Richard Crisp here http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/synthetic_rgb_page.htm. (Look down the page a bit to see the bicolour info)
Geoff

[Paul Haese]

Really like the detail Mike.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Troy :)

I usually do a straight RGB and blend it with the narrowband data until I like the colour of the stars, I recon they kinda need to match the palette of the NB rather than what I would use for an all RGB/LRGB version or what some guys like and that's all white but that's just personal preference. I then blend just the stars into the narrowband data, this can be tricky and the star sizes need to match and the registration needs to be good. If you look carefully I haven't nailed the registration perfectly in the bottom right and top left so may need to revisit that aspect but it is not that noticeable, so not a biggy.

I also mix some of the RGB colour into the overall completed narrowband, basically I get several different version going on the boil each with the best aspects and mix'em...like I am making a minestrone :P

Mike



Cheers Slaw :thumbsup:



Thanks Marc and yes I think it is the grub screw that tightens the small cog wheel to the worm gear shaft it comes lose, I can't tighten it as the Allan head is rounded so it just slips off once the slew starts...or it could be the worm slipping and...eerr?.. that would be no good and may require some worm block adjustments :question: never easy trying to trouble shoot at 2am when it is -2C and you are tired though :lol:



Thanks Mike..oh and what would you know about having technical issues with a mount and scope, huh?? I mean really :rolleyes: :lol:



Cheers Terry, glad you like it and I non secularly pray for some more good weather for you :)



Thanks Andy...yes, equipment troubles are very rare for me, my rigs over the years have always been relatively low tech and bullet proof...so I want to fix it asap :thumbsup:



Cheers Geoff, I was thinking of waiting until I have real SII but meah I may well give that a go, thanks :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Nice image Mike. It really shows up how sensitive the SX694 is to narrowband. It really excels there. Bummer about the grub screw (called set screw in the USA). Rounded allen key heads - yes that is annoying especially when its a little sucker. Welcome to the gear troubles club. We meet weekly on a Wed......

Greg.

[rustigsmed]

nice one mike. great detail.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, I guess the SX694 is a pretty sesitive unit really, wish they made a version of this chip but with about 4 X the area, that would be sweet with our scopes I recon and fit a more usaeable amount in while still having the high res :)



Cheers Rusti :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Great detail Mike,
is that the most detail I've seen on this target?

I hope you can fix the mount.

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

Well, I dunno :shrug: is it? :lol:

For a 12" @ F3.8, with no PEC, no ProTrack, no high speed adaptive optics guiding and under standard seeing, it is about as good as it gets probably :)

Hopefully the mount is a simple case of replacing the grub (set) screw...??

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
the detail is fantastic.
The narrow filters have helped a lot I think?

cheers
Allan

[Shiraz]

That is a beautiful image Mike - really captures the structure of this region.

I was scratching my head trying to work out how you got such great colour from two narrow band filters, so thanks for the summary of how you process NB data

hope the problem with the NJP is not too hard to repair - B** annoying when a trusted bit of kit goes down.

be nice if Sony would make the 24MP version of the 694, but since they making over a billion image sensors each year, our tiny market is probably not a high priority.

[niharika]

Don't know how exactly you do it Mike but your Bi-Colour images are very pleasing. Personally I never liked M17 much but this one specially the central portion changed my mind.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah how good would one of those be :eyepop::thumbsup:..as I said I would just be happy with say a 25mm X 20mm version, would be perfect...would still be within the AG12's fully illuminated field but I would need bigger filters again though....oh yeah! which I already have in the FLI filterwheel...hmmm?

Hope to get out to the Obs Saturday with a new stainless grub screw and good quality allen key :prey:



Good to hear :thumbsup: and funny how some objects just never appeal, I feel the same way about a couple of galaxies like The Meat Hook for example :screwy:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Mike

You can get an adapter from SX so the SX69 fits into the FLI filter wheel.

You would have to have a separate OAG though than the SX one unless you got an adapter to fit it to the scope side of the filter wheel.

That's what I have. My Trius fits into the same filter wheel MMOAG setup as the FLI. That way its one filter wheel, one set of filters,one setup different cameras.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

I actually think I have an SX to FLIFW adapter in my accessories boxes, I got it for the CFW-2-7 back in 08 in case I wanted to use the SXVH9...? So if a bigger version of the 694 ever comes available...who knows :thumbsup:

Mike

[Retrograde]

Amazing detail!

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Pete, the colour may take some getting used to but in the end the devil is in the detail, as they say :D

Mike

[AstroJason]

This is such a great image Mike. Love the colours and detail. That dark cloud on the left near the core makes this image look 3D, I haven't noticed it in other images of the Swan so much before.

[jase]

Classy image Mike! The bi-colour blend is great with the OIII transparency a treat to view. I'm interested to see what SII is going to bring to the image.

Hope you get your mount sorted out soon.

[strongmanmike]

Well thankya Jason :thumbsup: Yeah that dark cloud is one of the special bits of M17, I agree. It's funny, I just can't orient M17 in any other way than this or it looks just wrong, I see other orientations but to me it just has to look like the duck (yeah always looks more like a duck than a swan to me) swimming on the water but be somewhat tilted to the horizontal...hmmm? a duck fetish :question: :lol:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Classy huh? :D well, I'll take that my good man :cheers:

You know me Jase, I tend to get bored pretty easily, hence why I don't really have the patience for mega data any more let alone a mozaic :lol:...by the time I fix the mount :prey: and now after spending so much time tinkering with this image over a few days...meah, I'll likely not bother with the SII now :shrug: and move onto something new....keen on hammering a couple of cool planetary nebs actually :)

Mike

[Rex]

Nice rendition of a reasonably well known object Mike. I don't think I have seen this one done in a Bi-colour before. I like it.

[strongmanmike]

Glad you like it Rex, wanted to test the filters on something bright and easy...and to annoy Jase :lol: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Leonardo70]

Mike .. MAGNIFICA !! top class image ... wonderful !!
Congrats.

All the best,
Leo

[SpaceNoob]

That's an awesome image Mike, the colours are very cool. Love the Oiii and Ha contrast!

Bummer about the mount! Hope you find a quick fix for it soon.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys! And Mount is fixed!! Yaaay

[Slawomir]

Great news about the mount! Wait a second...this colour palette...I have seen it somewhere...did you drink iodine too? ;)

[strongmanmike]

He he nah just blew a grub screw :P

[RickS]

Very nice, Mike. I like it a lot!

I imaged this a while back and tried to do a SHO version but was never entirely happy with the colours. I should revisit the data some time now that I have a few extra processing tricks in my arsenal.

Cheers,
Rick.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Beautiful work Mike!:thumbsup:

Something about the Bicolour that lends itself to the complexity of the Swan.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Harel_Boren]

I like the colors, the details, the object... The everything:)

Cheers,
Harel

[strongmanmike]

Great to hear Rick, thanks a lot :thumbsup:



Cheers Justin :thumbsup: There are certainly plenty of ways to skin a cat, this was just my take and there are some great narrow band M17's out there :thumbsup:



Thank you very much Harel :thumbsup:...love your scope (and its location) by the way :D