Helix Nebula 81.75 hours

[Paul Haese]

Hi all,

this is an image I am sort of comfortable with. This represents the greatest integration time I have undertaken at 81.75 hours and nearly 25 hours rejected so far. I have removed data on the basis of the moon being too close, high cloud, FWHM not the required amount or too many satellite trails.

My goal here is to image the very faint outer extensions of this intriguing object. There have been at least 4 ejections of gas over the course of the red giant phase. There might be more but finding information about it is a bit lean. The furthest out is barely visible with 43 hours of Ha with this size aperture. I am intending to continue to image this object until it sets this year. I am hoping to obtain all the data required to attain the final goal but am well aware of diminishing returns here.

However, for now I am prepared to release this colour image.

Things of note aside from the nebula itself, is the faint galaxies in the background. Some are heavily red shifted and appear yellowy orange. The closer ones are blue. I think it adds to the image and gives a sense of depth.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/HelixNebulaDeepFSQ.html) for image.

[glend]

Amazing Paul! Your dedication to the pursuit of the faint details in all your images is inspiring.

[topheart]

Hi Paul,

Sorry, but I can't get the link to the image to work for me.

Cheers,
Tim

[Shiraz]

nor me.

Image looks real deep and detailed in the attachment - nice work

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Glen. I like pushing my gear to its limits. That way I can justify in my head the money of have spent in this crazy pursuit.



Hi Tim, the traffic is busy at present, several FB groups I belong to are hammering the site. However, just in case the link is busted here is the direct link

http://paulhaese.net/HelixNebulaDeepFSQ.html

[Paul Haese]

Sorted now I think.

[Placidus]

Had to chop a bit off the front of the link to make it work. Then ... wonder!

Utterly beautiful. Most inspiring. I love the three-dimensional feel to the upper "eyebrow" arch. Real and solid.

Congratulations,
Mike

[Stevec35]

That's definitely megadata and a half Paul! Definitely paid off though with the visible structure in the outer regions.

Nice job.

Steve

[codemonkey]

I don't know how you have the patience for such an epic integration; 6hrs is a big effort for me. Glad you did though, this is amazing.

[Atmos]

That is an image worth aspiring towards! Makes my 2 hours worth look like childs play!

[batema]

Truely wonderful Paul. Am amazing image. Well done.

[topheart]

That's a helluva Helix Paul !!

Deep indeed!

It has a lovely 3D feel to it.

My highest praise and congratulations on a Herculean effort.

Regards,
Tim

[gregbradley]

Great work Paul. Hats off to you for your dedication and pursuit of perfection.
Your images are always first class.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Colin and Mark for your comments. Colin, it is nice to have someone's images to aspire toward I think. It keeps one pushing harder.




Not sure how that piece of code got on the front of the address.

Thanks Mike. Over the course of the last 25 hours or so that 3D look started to emerge in the arch area. The OIII in that regions is very faint but has over time become more evident. Some lovely looking striations in that area too.



Thanks Steve. The funny thing is that I still need to take more data yet. Perhaps up to 50 hours of OIII and some more Ha data to eliminate noise and strengthen the signal. Certainly lots of data.



Thanks Lee. 5 or so years ago I would not have undertaken such large projects. The use of automated data collection has really enabled me to be more patient. I can highly recommend that for anyone wanting to collect large volumes of data to create better images.



Thanks Tim, I agree this is already a lovely looking Helix and has beautiful looking 3D areas but I still wonder how much more data would be needed before I was get no further improvement. Rolf's recent images seem to indicate that there is a fair way to go yet.



Thanks Greg, being a perfectionist does some times have its benefits. I encourage anyone to follow the pursuit of perfection even if it cannot be attained fully; trying is always a good thing.

[Somnium]

Amazing image Paul, you definitely collected the fainter outer edges well !

[rustigsmed]

fantastic work Paul, you may be going for the outer extensions but i'm also loving the inner sharpness and depth.


cheers

rusty

[RickS]

Well, if it's that easy I'm not impressed any more, Paul :lol:

Lovely, deep image. I'll be very interested to see what you discover if you manage to go deeper.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Aidan for you comment. :)



It was quite interesting watching the inner regions improve in detail during the ensuing session. Not only did the outer areas increase in signal but the signal quality in the inner regions also improved. I am amazed at the cometary globules showing up so well too.



LOL, the easy part is sitting at home and collecting the data Rick as you know.

I am going to keep plugging away at this target just to satisfy my curiosity here. I suspect I will need to go about double the depth to get any vast improvement but I think I can get it over 120 hours by the end of the apparition.

[John K]

Outstanding Paul,

Looks like automation as you have said is allowing you to capture heaps of data, but I would say technique, processing and equipment refining with your GSO RC scope has also meant you are getting max results vs effort.

Great work.

John K.

[troypiggo]

Another impressive result. Time/dedication certainly paying off.

[Slawomir]

A wonderful result - it is truly a quality image Paul. Apart from the amazingly captured nebula itself, I also like the RGB stars.

Although as you have hinted you don't expect drastic improvements with more data, every extra few hours mean stepping into pretty much unchartered territory, and that must be worth all the effort you put into this project so far :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Extremely deep Paul, most impressive. Megadata is the last mile, and youve nailed it.

[Andy01]

Go on, make an even 100 hrs, you know you want too ... :)

Awesome stuff!

[astronobob]

An excellent target to go Deeeep on Paul, youd have to be one of the best Astro-Imagers in Aus man, honestly !! & I really like the colour in this too, Its 'On Fire' so to speak !
Definitely a big credit for your dedication - also watching on for the final when it happens :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Paul
Impressive image and you really have captured the outer material as well as the faint background galaxies, but I have a problem. Looking at Peter_4059's image of the helix, although it doesn't have the depth of your it has one feature that is missing from yours.
Look here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=137902&highlight=Helix
And within the Helix itself I see a miriad of faint stars in the 6 hr exposure that are missing from your image.
Is this because a lot of NB data to bring out the outer halo has led to the demise of these stars?
Anyway an interesting observation
Allan

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Troy for your comment. :)



Thanks John, but this image is taken with my other system; the FSQ. I wish I could take an image of this field of view with the RC but I would need a much larger sensor and maybe a reducer too. Thanks for the compliment though.



Thanks Slawomir, I hope you are right about going deeper.



Thanks Fred. Mega data always seems to mean mega wait though as you well know. Takes a lot of patience, probably more than I possess. ;)



Thanks Andy, already approaching the big 100 hours of useable data. I think there is only another 5 or so hours now and I will hit the milestone. I won't repost until I have gone as far as I can and with a lovely smooth back ground. So it might be some time yet.



Wow thanks very much Bob. A huge compliment but there are quite a few here that produce excellent results too. Not to mention those that don't post on forums. Nice of you to say so though. :)



Thanks Allan. I take it you are referring to the galaxy seen within one of the wing arms? Peter's image is an LRGB so it is more evident than in my image. It is certainly there but quite faint and over whelmed by the NB data. On the straight RGB data set it is well seen and similar to Peters image. I could mask it in and perhaps when I do the final image I will do just that.

The stars in the core I suspect are the same. My RGB data I do a wash over the NB data with lighten mode or soft light. It gives the colour but there is some loss in density of data using this method but it does avoid the black rings and other horrid artefacts that come with NB and RGB blending. :)

[AG Hybrid]

Only another 600 hours of exposure to go and the rest of the face will be visible.

[rogerg]

oh c'mon, give yourself a break :rofl::lol: !!! It's absolutely awesome! :thumbsup:

I really must find myself a half decent OTA and get some nice pretty images like this :)

[graham.hobart]

That, Paul , is outstanding!. I never knew it could be so 'solid' looking in the Ha. Marvellous stuff.
Quick send it to the GSO people!!
cheers
Graz

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Adrian. Looking forward to the extra 600 hours. ;)



Thanks Roger. Yeah I know I am a tough task master. Just my obsessive nature to aim higher all the time.



Thanks Graham, I found that very interesting too about the Ha looking more solid as time went on. It seemed to develop more and more all the time. Each 4 hours I put in now, another area seems to thicken up just a little. I doubt that anyone will go past my integration time for some time yet, but I would be interested to see someone do that, just for comparison sake alone.

I am not sure GSO will understand getting an FSQ image. ;) I do send them the occasional GSO image though. :thumbsup:

[graham.hobart]

oops! sorry-only looked at the IIS shot as at work!
Doh!:P

[SkyViking]

Awesome work Paul, that's a serious Helix for sure. The depth and colour is really great and it seems you've picked up every faint extension there might possibly be! :thumbsup:

Re processing you shouldn't have to throw away data due to startrails, both Maxim and PixInsight can handle such outliers in the data, so maybe you can use even more of your data :)
What's the FOV of your GSO setup? Could you get higher S/N with a 2 panel mosaic of 50 hours each using the GSO, rather than 100 hours with the FSQ?

Thanks for the view, now I'm inspired to play with some measly 16 hours of Helix data from last year which I never got around to process. :P

[andyc]

Really impressive image Paul. Can't really add any more except that it was a real pleasure to explore the higher res version :thumbsup:

[Ryderscope]

Simply amazing.

[DJT]

Congrats Paul, that's an awesome image which just shows the effort you have gone to ensure you are able to grab consistently high quality subs time after time.

Great result :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Yeah that's a great image Paul! Colours & depth excellent! :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Andy, Rodney, David and Marcus for your comments. Much appreciated.



Thanks Rolf. I think there is a bit more of the extension to be seen yet. ;) Recent data acquisition is allowing further stretching and there appears to be more bubbles, though very faint.

I am aware of Maxim being able to handle such things. Do you mean satellite trails not star trails? I don't get trailed stars unless I lose guiding but I always reject those subs due to inconsistent illumination, and the trailed stars. Satellite trails are generally ok but I reject them when there are 3 or 4 and cannot be bothered using them. I prefer to keep subs that are higher quality overall. Just a choice I suppose and I can afford to gather more data with a remote imaging. NB data around full moon is no good either and this was the main amount of data rejected, (probably around 21 hours or so).

The GSO can cover the main part of the nebula (34 x 51 arc minutes) but cannot capture the entire field of view. Doing a mosaic would be an interesting exercise and one that I might do in years to come. I suppose this was more an exercise in what might actually be possible with this tiny little scope.

[dylan_odonnell]

So incredibly good. You really set the benchmark Paul!

[h0ughy]

:2thumbs::bowdown:

spectacular result

[Paul Haese]

Hmmm maybe but I know of one or two that I think are a lot better. Thanks all the same. :)



Thanks David.