Tarantula mosaic 5 of 9 panels complete

[Placidus]

We had a run of very clear skies (albeit over the full moon) and completed 5 of 9 panels of Tarantula in H-alpha and OIII. Only four corner panels to go.

Total exposure so far is 20 hours, all in 1hr subs. The underlying TIFF image is over 8000 pixels across (390 megabytes).

Here is a 70% full size image at 4.5 megabytes. (www.mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-XkVZzMP/0/O/E%20Tarantula%205%20panel%20Mosaic. jpg)

Partially resolved some technical issues related to normalizing the two panels done under full moon with the three done with little or no moon, and some issues related to data rejection algorithms. We hope that the future addition of further overlapping panels will also help.

H-alpha is yellow, and OIII is blue. Strong Mike: No deconvolution or any kind of sharpening !!!!

The link is at 0.8 sec arc/pixel, and 1.3 degrees across.

Best,
Mike and Trish

[Atmos]

I think a WOWZA is in order here :D

[RickS]

Very cool, M&T! It's an epic image already. Pixel peeping shows a few small black speckles but it is all stitched together very cleanly.

Cheers,
Rick.

[zardos123]

epic

[IanP]

Trish & Mike,

This is absolutely amazing project. I’d be delighted to see IT in full resolution --- :party2:

[multiweb]

That's a beauty Mike. Really cool. :thumbsup: Great to browse around.

[gregbradley]

Its a very immersive image. You can tour around and see the different bits and pieces that are individually interesting. Also a great reference image for what bits are worth imaging by themselves.

Great work.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Thanks, Colin!



Hi, Rick! Thanks for the encouragement. The little black speckles originate from bright artefacts in the darks, which get subtracted from the lights to create mildew spots. Perhaps we should use a larger darks library, so we can use data rejection when preparing the darks. It's helped before.



Cheers, Brad.



Thanks muchly, Ian. Bring on some cool clear sky.



Thank you Marc. From you, a master of the mosaic, that's definitely positive encouragement.

[Slawomir]

It is already an outstanding image as is; zooming into different sections reveals interesting structures that have been skilfully presented. I think the colours work really well too. Admiring your mosaic awakened an intense desire within to continue working on my own interpretation of this nebula...

Really well done M&T :thumbsup:

[Octane]

That is looking absolutely sensational!

I've also been working on this region with the humble FSQ/STL for the last few months. :)

H

[Andy01]

Awesome guys, Greg's nailed it when he described it as "immersive". The colour palette is ... well, different to my taste and the image quality is superb.
Well done M&T :)

[Placidus]

Thanks so much, Slawomir. We noticed long after the event that by luck your spectacular image covers almost the same area.





Thanks, Andy. We're finding it fun to be able to see all this area in fine detail, and the interconnectedness of all things, at almost the same time. (Your intense palette is growing on us).

[Shiraz]

Majestic! - love it

[Placidus]

Thanks, Ray. :)