Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359)

[marc4darkskies]

I still have to gather NB data to bring out the emission detail, but I though I'd share the plain old LRGB version first. At least I'm scraping the rust off my processing skills (I hope!)

I've cropped this for composition purposes only.

Small version:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/162574185/large

Full res version: (Use CNTRL Minus and CNTRL Plus to zoom out and in)
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/162574185/original

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Really quite nice Marcus, interesting that you rotated it slightly too. Adding some narrowband should add some extra detail, so look forward to the next episode :thumbsup:

Mike
Looks best after two ctrl-'s :whistle:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Mike. With any luck I'll get the NB next session although the moon is going into gibbous and the weather has gone cloudy again.



Yes, well, at least I give you the option of zooming. Besides, I like to show off my toit stars! :D:P

[strongmanmike]

Moon shouldn't affect Ha much, maybe OIII a tad...cloud? well that affects'em all huh? :mad2:...I mean who invented clouds anyway, couldn't precipitation have been delivered some other way :shrug: sheeesh, GOD! :rolleyes:

[Atmos]

Certainly packs a punch, will really stand out with some NB data onboard :)

[batema]

A beautiful image Marcus.

[Stevec35]

Looks pretty reasonable so far Marcus. I'll look forward to the final version.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Nice detail for LRGB, Marcus. Should be very impressive in NB!

Cheers,
Rick.

[Peter Ward]

Well...this one is clearly in the heavy-hitters league.

No (as Fred would say) wide-field-wus imagery here.

Wonderful stuff. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Lovely colours & great details, looking forward to seeing the NB added :)

[gregbradley]

Nice work Marcus

Greg.

[topheart]

Excellent , just excellent!

Cheers,
Tim

[alpal]

Hi Marcus,
You have some nice data there as would be expected from your exotic scope.
It's a wonderful picture but could be improved.
It looks like the stars are a bit over exposed or maybe you didn't use
a mask on them when you stretched the image?
They seem to have lost most of their colour & are very bright & white.
I think it needs a slight re-process from scratch.
Maybe when you add the narrow band you can have a fresh look at it?

cheers
Allan

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Mark!



Thanks Steve. The NB should give the nebulosity some better structure.



Thanks Rick!



Thanks a lot Peter!



Me too, thanks Andy! Not holding my breath for good weather though.



Thanks Greg.



Glad you like it Tim!



No worries Allan. I can always trust you to find a point of critique! :lol: As it turns out my stars had a slight yellow/red cast and that masked the subtle blues. Fixed now (subtely, and without a reprocess). Thanks mate!

[cybereye]

Marcus,

What a fantastic image - a real "Marvel"!

Cheers,
Mario

[multiweb]

Great close up Marcus. Very well done. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Hey Mario! Thanks for that! What have you been up to? I haven't seen you in this section for a while.
PS: My wife likes this image because it reminds her of the actor that plays Thor! :lol:



Thanks very much Marc. Narrow field rules! :D

[cybereye]

Marcus,

I became quite disheartened with some of my results and issues I was having with my setup. This was compounded by what seemed like an endless stream of clouds and I thought I'd take a break. Hence my absence from IIS...

Last weekend, after about a year on the "no astrophotography" wagon, I decided it was time to try and get my mojo back. I've reinstalled all my guiding software on to one laptop leaving my imaging software on the old one. I'm hoping this will reduce some of the frustration I was experiencing... time will tell!

As for Thor - what has Chris Hemsworth got that we don't...?!:question:

Cheers,
Mario

[alpal]

Hi Marcus,
I hope you weren't offended.
I try to give my honest opinion to be of greatest worth to you -
& if my opinion is wrong then I am prepared to apologise.
The picture now looks better with more colour in the stars.
You have such a supreme scope that I am inclined to look more closely
at every detail & follow your progress with great interest.

cheers
Allan

[E_ri_k]

Nice Marcus, I always wanted to image this, but never gotten around to it yet....Looks great so far:thumbs:
Erik

[DJT]

Nice one, Marc. The detail in the LRGB is awesome, should be really interesting with the NB.

Happy imaging:thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Like I said Allan - no worries! Of course I'm not offended! On the contrary, I always appreciate honest critique and I always check it out to see what I did wrong. Thanks again and keep those critiques coming! ;)



Thanks a lot Erik!



Thanks muchly David!

[gvanhau]

LRGB is looking very nice to me.

Congrats.
Geert

[Paul Haese]

Nice detail Marcus. Interesting how much detail exists just in LRGB. I'll keep an eye out for the NB data added to this image.

[Geoff45]

Very nice Marcus. Lots of intricate detail in the cap. This is an object that can be repeatedly imaged with subtle variations.
Geoff

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Geert!



I could probably tease out some more detail with localised contrast enhancement, but I'll wait until I have the structure that NB reveals.



That's for sure - no two versions are the same. Cheers Geoff!

[Shiraz]

Majestic image Marcus - beautiful processing as always.

[Placidus]

A wonderful image, Marcus. Shows far more fine nebular detail than I might have guessed obtainable in LRGB.

I look forward very much to seeing your contemplated narrowband version!

Best,
Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Ray!



Very pleased you like it Mike. When I do get the NB I'll probably do enhanced "natural" colour and full NB renditions as well. Should be interesting to see which aesthethic appeals the most! :)

[Bassnut]

Bang, in yr face, no WFW right there, excellent Marcus proper NF.

[rustigsmed]

When I first looked at this I thought it was NB due to the detail ... Then I saw the stars ... So fantastic work Marcus! I love this target too so have looked at a lot images looking fwd to the NB addition if you have time!

Cheers

Russ

[marc4darkskies]

Hehe ... thanks a lot Fred! NF rules!



Thanks very much Russ! I have heaps of time these days - just not heaps of good weather!