SMC in HaOiiiLRGB

[RickS]

Here's the (hopefully) final first light image from the AP140EDF last weekend. I collected some Ha and Oiii as well as the LRGB data on the SMC and managed to blend it all together in a way that I thought was pleasing. The narrowband data certainly shows a lot more stuff going on in the SMC. The LRGB image looks quite calm and serene but there's obviously a lot going on under the hood!

Details are...

Scope: AP140EDF/reducer = 771mm FL
Mount: AP900
Camera: U16M
Filters: Astrodon E series Gen 2 LRGB, 3nm Astrodon Ha and Oiii
Guiding: Lodestar / Borg 50mm guide scope
Image scale: 2.41 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 21x600s L, 6x900s R, 6x900s G, 6x900s G, 7x1800s Ha, 6x1800s Oiii (14.5 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

The attached small image is hopelessly compressed. There's a large version on Astrobin: http://www.astrobin.com/full/212006/B/

The original LRGB version is here: http://www.astrobin.com/full/211572/0/

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Very nice Rick. Subtly processed which is nice for a narrowband rgb.

Greg.

[RickS]

Thanks, Greg! I was trying not to go too overboard. The NB data adds some nice detail.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir]

Hi Rick,

Although the original image is very nice, the HaO3LRGB version is IMO in a different league. A very well balanced representation of stars and nebulosity.

Awesome :thumbsup:

[Atmos]

Wow! As you say, there is a lot going on under the hood there. Enjoyed just flicking back and forth between the two images :D :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks Slawomir & Colin!

[Placidus]

Oh, yes! That's it! In the engine room! Yum. :thumbsup:

[Derek Klepp]

Great to compare the two.

[Paul Haese]

Certainly looks quite different from the first image.

[RickS]

Thanks, M&T :)





Ta, Derek & Paul. I was trying to emphasize the narrowband features but without going too far away from the RGB colouring. Not sure I was entirely successful but I wasn't disappointed with the result.

Cheers,
Rick.

[RobF]

Really like the extra detail and insights the NB provides. Showing the Ha regions nicely Rick without blowing the colours at all.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob.

[strongmanmike]

I recon you were :)

Lovely result and a successful first light I'd say Ricki :thumbsup:

How many stars are in this shot :eyepop:

Mike

[FranckiM06]

Congratulations for this wonderful image and great result.
Franck

[SimmoW]

Yes an amazing first light Rick, with masterful combining of ha into the image

[DJT]

That's brilliantly done. Very subtle but bringing out the detail. Top job:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike! Plate solves were finding 80K+ stars which is more than I'd be able to count :lol:



Thanks, Franck.



Thanks, Simon. The quality of the data helped a lot. It didn't need much processing.



Thanks, David.

[Octane]

Simply outstanding!

I'm having issues with stitching mine; residual gradients along frame edges. :(

H

[marc4darkskies]

Very nicely done indeed Rick! :thumbsup: You've managed to walk the fine line between overstating and understating the Ha!

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Rick :thumbsup: looks like someone set off some fireworks up there :P

[RickS]

Thanks, H. What are you using to assemble the mosaic?



Thanks very much, Marcus.



And thanks, Dunk!

[topheart]

Wow Rick..... that's good!!

I am currently attempting a 9 panel mosaic of this with the BRC250...not sure a mosaic of this size will be feasible in this part of the sky.....I am capturing HARGB.....how much did the O3 add to the image you have taken , do you think??

Maybe I should capture data in O3 as well...?

Many thanks,
Tim

[RickS]

Thanks, Tim. Good luck with the mosaic! I think the Oiii was a useful addition. It has a distribution which is different enough to the Ha to be interesting. I can post Ha and Oiii mono images tonight if that's helpful.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Rick,

I'm DBE'ing each calibrated master panel and then using GMM to join.

Once I GMM the RGB data, I can see red gradients along the edges.

H

[topheart]

Thanks Rick ....yes, please post the Ha and O3 data - that would be very useful!!

Thanks again!
Tim

[RickS]

Tim,

I've just been playing around creating an animated GIF to show the difference. Here 'tis: https://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/photos/i-jxgKXkK/0/O/i-jxgKXkK.gif

Hope that helps...

Cheers,
Rick.

[RickS]

H,

So you're stitching full RGB frames, I guess. I've only done mosaics by stitching each filter individually and then colour combining afterwards. With good quality data I was able to stitch it together while still linear. More dodgy data needed to be stretched first.

I assume you did the StarAlignment thing with Frame Adaption enabled earlier in the process? It might be possible to do some PixelMath magic to make the panels more compatible but that shouldn't be necessary.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Sorry, I should have said, I am stitching each filter separately.

So, I have a L mosaic, R mosaic, G mosaic and B mosaic.

Once I LRGBCombination the RGB and perform an STF, there are red gradients around where the frames combine. :(

H

[Octane]

And, yes, the data is still linear and I used frame adaptation to make the scaffold that GMM later used.

H

[Nicola]

Very nice image. I am always amazed by the fact there are almost only blue stars...when I first imaged it I thought I made some mistake in color calibration!! :D

[gvanhau]

Very Nice Rick.

I can clearly see the difference due to te influence on Ha.
The OIII is not so clear to me.

Geert

[Geoff45]

The difference between your two images is remarkable. Just imagine what's going on on all the other parts of the spectrum--radio, uv, ir, xray....
Geoff

[topheart]

Thanks very much Rick. The animation shows it up nicely!

Cheers,
Tim

[RickS]

Thanks, Nicola!



Thanks, Geert. The influence of the Oiii is more subtle. The animated GIF I posted shows it nicely, I think:
https://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/photos/i-jxgKXkK/0/O/i-jxgKXkK.gif



I had enough trouble blending 5 colours, Geoff :lol: But you make a good point. There's a catalog of 717 radio-continuum sources in the SMC just to begin with!

Cheers,
Rick.

[RickS]

Hmmm, that's really weird and a huge PITA. Are the gradients visible in the stitched R image (or as negative gradients in G/B?)

I don't have any inspired suggestions. Might be worth trying an RGB combine on a couple of adjacent panels and then stitching them to see if that's an improvement.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane]

Before I try that, I might just take my drizzled RGB frames and build a mosaic first, then, run DBE (and, linear fit after that) to see if that helps.

I'll have a look when I get home and see if I can find any inverse gradients in the green and blue.

Sorry to hijack your post!

H

[rustigsmed]

That is really fantastic Rick.
I reckon you have nailed the colours, keeping the NB looking 'naturalistic' and not too overbearing. The Oiii adds an extra dimension, it looks like there are heaps of ngc 3324's over there.

cheers

russ

[RickS]

Yep, that's worth a try, H. Worst case you could try building a mosaic from stretched RGB panels (I presume you were talking linear RGB above.)

No apology needed :)

Cheers,
Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks very much, Russ. It's a shame the SMC isn't closer!

[el_draco]

Detail in this image is SUPERB. Wow!

[DecadentHam]

Cant even begin to fathom the image. ;)

[ozstronomer]

Rick, both SMC images look fantastic, but the added NB really elevates this image to another level. Beautiful :thumbsup:

Geoff

[RickS]

Thanks, Rom.



Thank you :)



Ta, Geoff! Hope you found the smaller objects you were looking for.

[sjastro]

Rick,

Very dynamic view of the SMC.

Steven

[RickS]

Thanks, Steven.

[akiil]

Amazing image mate, What was your processing in PI ? is this a multiple tile mosaic or did you just use Image Integration ?

[Stevec35]

Somehow I seem to have missed commenting on this one Rick. It's probably the best SMC image using NB data that I've ever seen. The colour looks perfect!

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Adam. It isn't a mosaic, just a single FOV. The processing was fairly straightforward apart from a lot of trial and error with PixelMath to blend the Ha and Oiii into the Luminance and colour (I processed these separately and combined them towards the end.)



Thanks, Steve!