The Veil Nebula from Astrofest - (RAW Files available)

[multiweb]

Well there's about 15h in RGB on this and I don't think it's coming up still. :shrug: Maybe this one is best imaged from the NH after all, especially in RGB and widefield. NB Ha/Oiii might have worked better.

Here's a first shot at processing it. Hard not to butcher the stars to bring up all the faint neb. I though I had it all in two panels but it looks like it's even bigger.

There's a big one here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/veil_FSQ_fff.jpg) but it's a massive file. [15MB - 3359x2961]
A more manageable HD version here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/veil_FSQ_HD.jpg)[5MB - 1920x1693]

I'll upload the master FITS if anyone wants to have a crack at it. Probably easy to get a better process than this one. :thumbsup:

PS: here's the links to the files for the top panel:
LUM (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974toplumCP.rar), Red (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974topredCP.rar), Green (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974topgreenCP.rar), Blue (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974topblueCP.rar). About 15MB each.

and here are the links to the bottom panel:
LUM (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974botlumCP.rar), Red (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974botredCP.rar), Green (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974botgreenCP.rar), Blue (http://www.astropic.net/astro/MeanNGC6974botblueCP.rar). About 11MB each.

[strongmanmike]

At first I thought I would have to comment on the bright worms and uniform dots again :doh: buuut (thankfully) I then realised it was just nebula and stars, phew!

Looks pretty good to me (maybe slight green cast) and a must have area for someone with gear at Duckadang I recon :thumbsup:

Mike

[multiweb]

:lol: Lucky me I didn't apply any sharpening at all on this one. The stars were burnt enough as it is.

I think the under sampling doesn't help with that. I tried bayer drizzle on this one. It seems to work well only on bright objects. So I'm doing another version with my more conservative flow in CCD Stack see if it comes out better.

I like how the nebs come out but not so how the stars look. Maybe if I get nice stellar profiles on the repro I'll have room to apply a bit of wormish sharpening ;)

[Placidus]

That's a pretty serious result for RGB. Hard to do better, because one just gets better and better stars. I've only ever had a go in OIII, a very long time ago. That was easier.

[Geoff45]

Nice detail Marc. I had a quick go at your jpg file. In PI put on a luminance mask to protect the background, then apply a saturation push in Curves--maybe twice, then remove the mask and use SCNR to knock down the green cast. I can post it if that's OK with you.
Geoff

[multiweb]

Thanks Mike. :thumbsup: Next time for me will be NB for sure. This one is a PITA incolor.



Thanks Geoff. :thumbsup: Yeah go for it. I'm finishing off the master FITS. I'll upload them soon and make all the links available in this thread for for L,R,G,& B for both top and bottom panels. See what you guys can come up with.

[Geoff45]

Here it is. A bit lurid, but you get the idea.

[multiweb]

Yeah it did boost the colors. Nice. :thumbsup: I've uploaded the files now for the top panel. Links in the original post.

[Rex]

That's pretty good Marc. I did a version of this last year and had a bugger of a time with the stars, so I hear ya.

[Camelopardalis]

Love the detail in there Marc :thumbsup:

I took some subs of the Western Veil myself, didn't get around to the other half :lol: haven't tried tackling it yet with all the stars :sadeyes:

[RobF]

I've got about 3hrs of Ha on the East side I could post up too if any use. Haven't processed any of the Ha/L/R/G/B yet, but will see what I've got....

[DJT]

Nice one Marc and curse those pesky stars! Never realized there were quite so many to contend with.

:thumbsup:

[RobF]

I think I've botched my cal frames as there is a far bit of sensor noise. Anyway, full FITS for 3hr Ha stack available here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5rforrawww5953/Veil%20East%20%20light-FILTER_Ha-BINNING_1.fit?dl=0) if anyone wants to play with this and Marc's data further. Very similar FOV for the East side. (32mb FITS download)

[rustigsmed]

hi marc,

awesome stuff thanks for sharing.

no one has had a crack at the moustache section, here is my attempt - and actually my first go at LRGB data ever. All kind of new, pretty different from DSLR data - way darker but soooo clean!

Used your full frame not cropped

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80336656@N07/20275164794/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

slight crop
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80336656@N07/20711689979/in/dateposted-public/

I notice on lesser quality versions i can see a grid pattern appear not sure if thats come out on your monitors with the flickr version - maybe i stretched and or over cranked the colour too much.

Cheers

Rusty

[RobF]

Its always been a thought to try and 3 panel mosaic on this one. You did well with the 2 panels you have Marc. It seems like heresy to be shooting NB at astrofest in a way, so hardly your fault there are so many stars in there! :)

[multiweb]

Thanks Rex. :thumbsup: Maybe a starless version would look alright. Will try that too.

Thanks mate. :thumbsup: Yeah I didn't realise there would be so many. :eyepop: :lol:
Looking forward to your version.


Blending the Ha in the reds might make the whole field popup. :thumbsup:

Thanks mate. :thumbsup: Yeah, where's Fred when you need him? :P

Good stuff. Thanks for the link. Will have a play too. :thumbsup:
That looks cool Russel. :thumbsup: You did an excellent job on the stars.
Good catch on the grid pattern on the version posted. The witch broom panels was integrated in PI using drizzle bayer. As you can see it's far from perfect and there are artefatcs from the original bayer matrix. The other panel was done in CCD Stack. I tried drizzle in MAXIM as well and I have to say the results looked better (in some cases) than PI. But still to experiment.


I also think 3 panels is the way to go unless you have a reducer for the ED. I can't use a reducer with the old Q.

I know, you go away to a dark site to do color not narrowband. It would be criminal to waste good skies on Ha/Oiii. But in this case I could make an exception. Well for next year I'll do Vela. It's right up ahead for us.

[Brisbaneskys]

Thanks Marc for sharing your raw data.
This is the first time for me to have a go at processing LRGB images. So it was a bit of a learning curve to say the least.

Now I know the DSLR has to go for something better.

Robin


http://email.photobucket.com/wf/click?upn=71gpQnDR9yiZ1TWxBLkRoga-2Bx0ZVRccOaEJV1oQa7iiu7ubLl3rMf3cQq-2Fzrd-2FvMlapGMqc1HUjpVBHkSxbMem6bpHRmgVH nxQ7Nla4-2BIhwwgBVQRa77VJOSPbqhrdUgvckabmAqV Gzajb30CkpVD80amJFQodj-2FFjoobsn83Ec-3D_cjVkuAYf20ErOe-2BXwFM-2B13IC-2FF1KEjMo01Q8bR6uinFbJmf2bndOwQsJra XAC-2BuXy8Pm5odGr4TchZaZXV-2BaXv4YpMm-2F6XFH-2FRuxsskL8LLy7DaaeddipDSOtDtr7P0Gvg g0iKTEek1Bx5npAK6lviA1JIISshFSVoYpO rhFKsmG2hCxgYPwiWbOuv4D8F2gtpbGQe7V 7hyy0HYO0W2yAyM-2B69LLRM5f9fBQHBdKcWNuzcRdcw7a1rbtt z4F2j-2F6sXrOwiQ5BYI3n-2FXW3rOXdA-3D-3D

[multiweb]

Looks good Robin. Great colors. :thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

Looks like a challenging target Marc with so many stars and faint neb. Nicely processed.

[Atmos]

It is a really nice set of data. Had a quick play with it this morning and went WAY overboard but it was fun all the same :)

[multiweb]

Thanks Peter. :thumbsup:


Hey Colin, that looks bloody awesome! :thumbsup: How did you get the neb out?

[Atmos]

I ran a very low de convolution while it was still linear, both on the RGB and Lum.
Created a star mask (spent some 15 minutes playing with it) and spent most of my time playing with the data with the stars masked. I think I need to learn how to use the PSF in mask generation.

At the end I just dropped the mask and saturated the hell out of it haha :P

[multiweb]

:lol: I like your style! Will play with the data and do a repro today. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Nice data Marc! Just did a quick & dirty on your the smaller RGB files in PS this morning (reduced crop attached). A bit more effort would definitely give this image wow factor!

Cheers, Marcus

[multiweb]

Thanks Marcus. Trying to figure out how to do star masks in PI. I think Colin has the right idea. Mask all the stars then work the hell out of the neb then blend back in.

[marc4darkskies]

Masking stars is a snap in PS. Attached is the mask I made using a PS action to enhance the neb (takes 10 secs :D) - and no acronyms required :P :lol:.

[multiweb]

Cool. I use Startools top make my masks but I might start looking back into my old PS actions. I have a tut somewhere from an old NEAF presentation from Tom Davies. He used to be able to extract dust out of a brand new IKEA furniture (still in the box).

[multiweb]

Well I did one repro on one panel after seeing Colin's version. Went back to basics with Tom's tutorial. Here's a link (http://www.astropic.net/astro/tdavis-short_focal_length_imaging_short.pd f) to it. It's quite old from 2009 but still relevant. [10MB PDF download]

Big one here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/NGC6974_FSQ_top_A_fff.jpg)[6.3MB - 2939x1930]
HD version here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/NGC6974_FSQ_top_A_HD.jpg)[3MB - 1920x1261]

I reckon the colors are more vibrant and it brought out a bit of the brown stuff too.

[Atmos]

Found that creating a star mask is SO much easier after the data has been stretched. Created a quick PSF and played more with the deconvolution.

Crop here (http://astrob.in/207033/0/)

Full here (http://astrob.in/207034/0/)

I am still really learning how to use PI, slowly getting there :)

[RickS]

Nice data capture, Marc. That low northern horizon at Duckadang seems to offer a huge temptation to go after tough northern targets :) Look forward to seeing what you can do with it. Marcus has demonstrated that it has a lot of potential.

Cheers,
Rick.

[LewisM]

Fiddled while Rome burned...

[Paul Haese]

I don't mind the original image you presented here Marc. Maybe just a little under saturated but a huge field of view and nicely processed data.

[multiweb]

Looking good Colin. :thumbsup:

Thanks Rick. :thumbsup: Yes the call from the North. :)


Not bad at all. :thumbsup:

Thanks Paul. Happy with the details but the color is definitely washed out and yellowish. All the stars look white too. I like the repro better. Will rework the mosaic as a whole as well. Found this "Linear Fit" in PI which seems to do the same as Pixel Math / Int mode in CCD Stack to balance the channels. I guess it's just about trying to map all the functionality from one program to the other and find where it is.