Horse and Flame

[RobF]

More horsing around from Astrofest this year (groan....)

Weather, hols and time seems to prevent me getting into the treasures of Orion usually, so time was made early morning on this field between moon and sun. Altitude rarely above 25 degrees, but about 3.5hrs of HaLRGB in 10min subs in the end.

Thought about sitting on this until more data is (hopefully) hoarded this summer, but putting up what I have. Really have to work on how to handle blue halos around brighter stars. Any suggestions?

[Atmos]

At first I was going to ask if your telescope was well blue corrected but the Tak 106ED should do very well :)
Maybe either running a deconvolution on just the blue channel possibly a convolution on the RG, maybe a bit of both?

[RobF]

Thanks Colin - will have to give it a try and appreciate the suggestion. I guess on fainter DSOs you can get away with this to a certain extent, but ain't no hiding in the shadows in this part of space :lol:

[Atmos]

If you create a not overly aggressive star mask you should be able to get only the brightest (most likely to be bloated) stars.

[Octane]

Wow, the first for the season!

I was going to say, this baby isn't even at 45 degrees and it's almost astronomical twilight. You were keen!

I can't wait to give this one another go. My last attempt was 8 years ago. :)

H

[RobF]

Have spent quite a lot of time today reading up on starmasks and have to agree. PI never ceases to amaze me how tweaking a few sliders (you've ignored pretty much to date) can make such a huge difference. Notice in a Juan tutorial using dilation (Morphilogical Transform) on star masks too - along with some median MT beforehand to pull down noise. Never would have thought to use MT for much else than eroding stars. Live and learn of course....

[RobF]

Yep H - every minute to astrotwilight was scrounged each morning :)
Peter B pointed out we could be scrounging the odd Ha frame as the sky brightened, but I seemed to always crash and burn when tried to do this. Anyway, its all red, so why the heck not shoot even if it was too low :P

Actually pretty happy how this turned out considering how worn out I was by this time of the night. So pretty though watching Pleidaes, Taurus and Orion rising over the trees pre dawn with the odd perseid streaking by - seemed a shame to hit the sack....:)

[Rod771]

That's very good for under 25° . Well done, Rob! :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Looks pretty good, Rob! You might find a RangeSelection mask on the blue channel helps with the halo reduction?

[Paul Haese]

I think it looks pretty good too. My only real critique would be with regard to the flame nebula. It should have a more honey yellow look to it, rather than the pink colour you have. Detail looks good though and composition is nice too.

[Camelopardalis]

Nothing constructive from me as I'm forever learning from you guys, but I stayed up that late a couple of nights while chasing the Princess :D takes a lot of dedication to get that amount of data night without interference of the Moon, and it certainly paid off Rob :thumbsup: oodles of detail in there and oh my all the Ha :D

[strongmanmike]

Perhaps the best HH taken in August I've seen I recon :eyepop: :thumbsup:

Mike

[multiweb]

Good stuff Rob. :thumbsup: Taken with a crownie in hand. :lol:

[RobF]

Thanks guys.

Mike, maybe IIS needs an "extreme imaging forum" for loonies imaging equatorial objects below 30 degrees? :D

Rick, again, thanks for the PI tips - RangeSelection was off my radar until recently thanks to your prompting - good thought to wield it in anger on the halos.....

Paul, you're right about the flame, but just as well I didn't put up my first salmon pink Ha combine :thanx:. Might get more serious if/when more data becomes available. There are quite a few sensor pixel artefacts in the full frame that also need weeding out next time. I know where to go for a good reference pic in this area though - believe you've had some success imaging this field :)

Rod, Dunk and Marc - I salute you with the traditional AF morning greeting - also specially reserved for the 7am delivery truck driver :cheers: :drink:

[RobC]

Great image Rob. Glad you posted it.

Cheers Rob.

[RobF]

Thanks for that Rob.
What a great AF - was over far too quickly!

[Rex]

Hey you got some nice detail there for such a low alt Rob. Can't wait to see it with more data.

[RobF]

Thanks Rex. Hoping to get more Ha from home, but houses and trees mean I'll be waiting another month or so for that to work out.