NGC 1788 (Lum only - work in progress)

[marc4darkskies]

Well, it's been a long time between drinks but I think my camera problems are now behind me :prey:. I've also gone into semi retirement (as of Friday :D) so plenty of time to image now!!! If the weather is kind this will be my first image in 12 months :eek:!

Anyway, I thought I'd kick off again with a challenging target! NGC 1788 is quite a faint one and off the beaten track. So far it's only 5 hours of luminance. There's only a small amount of emission to see but I'm gathering Ha as well. I should probably get more Lum too since noise control was doable but challenging. I think I nailed the composition though!

Being early days, I'm only displaying at 50% res this time. Edge cropped only. Seeing was good but not great. FWHM for the combined 30 sub stack (over 2 nights) is 2.0 arcsec.

50% resolution:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/162135259/original

Cheers, Marcus

EDIT 22/12: BTW, I found out that Google Chrome wasn't rendering this image properly because it was a greyscale image (Profile in PS: "Working Gray - Dot Gain 20%"). Converting it to RGB (embedding an sRGB colour profile into the image) works around the problem so it will now render correctly in Chrome

[strongmanmike]

Welcome back Marcus :hi: semi retirement huh? great news for your imaging then...now just need to move you somewhere with clearer and darker skies :thumbsup:

Looking good so far, a lovely subtle neb complex by the looks of it, you even have a mini NGC 253 up in the top right corner :D

I wish you well with your new, old new camera :lol:

Bring on some Davies magic I say :cool:

Mike

[RickS]

Congrats on the semi retirement, Marcus. Hope to see a lot more images from you.

Not a frequently imaged object. I'm looking forward to this one. The Lum is a great start.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Placidus]

Taste test on this off-beaten-track area looking promising.

Excellent news with the reduced workload and therefore increased productivity and more great pix from you.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Mike. It's not a showy target but I think it will come out nice - I may need to break my own "mega data" target for this one though! :P



Cheers Rick - I'm already enjoying the retirement gig - no Sunday-itis tonight! :D. Of course the waxing lunar cycle has yet again coincided with some clear weather so it probably won't be finished until Jan.



Thanks Mike. Yes, sometimes the tastiest tidbits are had when you're roughing it off road! And you're quite right too, I will henceforth define productivity only in terms of imaging time!:party: I may even start attending ASNSW imaging meetings!

[rustigsmed]

12months!
Looking good though!!

[Stevec35]

That's looking very promising Marcus. I hope you get some decent weather to finish it off. Congratulations on the semi-retirement.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Great to see you are imaging again Marcus. An interesting object, nicely done.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Russell.



Cheers Steve. Yes, a long way to go for this image but it's showing promise!



Thanks Greg - it feels good to have the time again. Touch wood, no more hardware issues! But ... where the heck did El Nino go??!

[prokyon]

Great comeback Marcus! You did not unlearn how to do it. I hope you can add the data you want, will become a great final result.

Regards Werner

[gvanhau]

It is coming out nice so far Marcus.
I'd interested in seeing your Ha, because I shot it recently, and got less signal in Ha than in Red, maybe because it is mainly a reflection Neb:question:

Geert

[marc4darkskies]

Thank you Werner! I'm a bit rusty with my processing but it's like riding a bike! :)



Thanks Geert! I've looked at a few test Ha subs and they're unlikely to add very much to the image. Given what you've said, I may not waste my time with it now.

[Bassnut]

Excellent. the lum contrast/detail looks like what you would expect for Ha, so well done.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot Fred!

[Shiraz]

wow, that's very nice quality. interesting region - looking forward to the completed project.

[topheart]

Hi Marc,

All the best with the restart and change of work - astro- life balance!


Cheers,
Tim

[marc4darkskies]

Many thanks Ray! Fingers crossed for some good weather soon!



Thanks Tim! Yes, astro / life balance will improve dramatically! :D

[multiweb]

Cool shot Marcus. Pretty object. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Marc!

I thought it was about time to do something off the beaten track. It's pretty faint though so I'm thinking of capturing the RGB 2x2.

[Paul Haese]

Its been on my object list for a year or so now and I am looking forward to seeing what you will get from this object. Having similar systems will give me something to go by. Detail already looks interesting.