M17, the Swan Nebula

[Geoff45]

http://www.astrobin.com/190614/

Taken at Wiruna over two new moon periods.
Telescope: 12'5" PlaneWave CDK
Camera: FLI Proline 16803
Mount: AP900
Date: May 2015, June 2015
Exposure: 3 x L, 6 x R, 6 x G, 4 x B: all 10 minutes for a total of 190 min. I actually took 290 minutes of data but discarded the ones where the FWHM was over 2.5". I also combined a synthetic luminance from the combined RGB image with the other luminance frames.
FOV: 50' x 50'
Geoff

[Leonardo70]

Very nice Geoff. Congrats.
All the best,
Leo

[gregbradley]

That's really very nice Geoff. Love the colours.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Beautiful Geoff! Great detail and lovely colour.

Cheers

Steve

[Geoff45]

Thanks all. This is certainly one that exceeded initial expectations from the first quick processing run.

[strongmanmike]

That's a very nice Swan Geoff the golden surrounds look good, haven't seen this before :question: was this implemented or controlled by you?

Only issue for me is...it is upside down :P

Mike

[Geoff45]

Thanks Mike. The gold was just the way it came out. Nothing special done to bring it on. Upside down? Just turn around and lean over backwards and it'll look right. Seriously though, I tend to rotate pics through 90 degree angles and look for the presentation that I like best. Sometimes an image just pops by being rotated. I suppose though, I should put an orientation into the description just so people don't assume N up, E left.
Geoff
Note added: Not sure why you think it's upside down. I did a plate solve and it's oriented N up E left, which is the usual orientation in star atlases. See the thumbnail. Still, telescopically I suppose it would be south up--but, sheesh, who looks through telescopes these days?

[strongmanmike]

Nah, nah, there is nothing wrong with the orientation at all mate, looks fine, I had just made a comment in my recent Swan thread how I just can't see this nebula in any other orientation than making it look like a Swan swimming but down hill, that was all. So no need to put explanations for your orientation, all good :thumbsup:

Re the gold colour, it just looked like it was gold between the stars too ie the gas itself, this was what I noticed, that's all. Actually, looking at it again, the gaseous areas between the gold stars are in fact looking more a browny-red-gold, which is probably quite legitimate if there is a lot of dust as opposed to gas in these areas, so excellent :thumbsup:(probably :question:) :lol:

Mike

[Placidus]

Very much like your treatment of the colour, Geoff. Not too lolly-pink, but warm and rich.

I get so used to looking at narrowband images of nebulae, it's really quite a treat to compare them feature-by-feature with a good RGB such as yours.

[Geoff45]

Thanks Mike. RGB rules! I sometimes forget I have a complete set of NB filters in my camera. I should use them more often, since I bought them from Mike Sidonio and with any luck some of the Sidonio magic may still be sticking to them.
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

You sound like Marcus...he has a set of NB's too now but we ain't seen nuttin from him either :shrug:...come'on guys, join the I hate it, I don't mind it or I love it brigades, different for every image, you will get swept up in the excitement and euphoria too :lol:

Mike

[multiweb]

Really cool shot Geoff. Fantastic colors and depth. :thumbsup: