M78

[gregbradley]

I took this a while ago. Lots of cloudy/rainy weather in the Sydney area in Jan so not much chance to do more on this.

This one of the nicer nebs in the Orion area.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/162575978/large

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/162575978/original larger size

Greg.

[DJScotty]

Utterly delightful image Mr Bradley.
I tip my hat to you.

DJ Scotty :D

[Somnium]

Unbelievably smooth and sharp, well done!

[willik]

some thing that the Hubble would take

[batema]

Beautiful Greg.

Mark

[gregbradley]

Wow, thank you. I am glad you liked it.



Thanks. I think there was some good seeing on some nights as well.



Thanks Mark. It is a pretty area.



Gee nice compliment. Thank you.

Greg.

[RickS]

Very nice for what is a relatively short integration on a difficult object, Greg :thumbsup: The fast scope certainly performs as you would hope.

A minor nit is that at full res there's a speckly effect visible in some areas, maybe sharpened noise?

Cheers,
Rick.

[marc4darkskies]

Agree with Rick. You need to blur the colour layer before sharpening the image Greg. This is a dim and difficult target so you probably need more data too. Also noticing some lobes on your stars at the 12 o'clock position. Did you have a guiding issue?

[strongmanmike]

Not bad, I like the colours and certainly some good potential in that image Greg :thumbsup:. I'm thinking though it may just have needed some more time? Also, while not a biggy, the stars look kinda rough and wobbly, is that from your star shrinking process perhaps?

Have you taken the RHA to Bigga yet?

Mike

[gvanhau]

Very nice.
I also notice the minor grainy effect in the larger image.

Geert

[Stevec35]

Would be an absolute winner with more data I think Greg. While it looks good in the small size it's quite noisy in the larger size.

Steve

[gregbradley]

More data would help. I'll try to get some more.



The subs seemed pretty good but I have noticed that I do get some slightly eggy stars when the scope is on the east side and when on the west side they are perfect. Trying to track that down. Suggestions?



Yep needs more time. No work done to the stars pehaps the issue mentioned above. Yep I have taken the RHA to Bigga. Probably will do again in the near future now the weather is drying up a bit.



Thanks.



Thanks Steve. I'll add some more data to it. I was planning to but ended up processing it as it is for now. I do like the way the image is turning out so its worth some extra effort.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I fixed the noise. The stars issue is pretty minor so I'll leave that for now.

Greg.

[rustigsmed]

looks great Greg, nice to see an image from you again - it feels like a while!

[DJT]

Lovely image Greg.Interesting area to play in.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Russell. Yes it has been a while. I've been consumed with a contract I had to deliver plus its rained a lot. I have several images unprocessed yet that I have now got the bug to process and publish though.



I did this one years ago but not a lot of time spent on it and I was happy with it. Its an interesting object.

[Peter Ward]

I'd only echo the quibbles posted earlier, that said, a good rendition of a tough target.:thumbsup:

P.S.
Sadly my RHA is now back in its box... I'm enamoured with the new German girl.

So shallow of me :ashamed:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter. You have 2 superb choices there in equipment.

Greg.

[E_ri_k]

Very nice Greg, lovely blue colour :)

Erik

[Paul Haese]

Some nice colours and detail there Greg. Maybe a little dark though.

[multiweb]

Nice close up Greg. Good colors. :thumbsup:

[Geoff45]

Nice one Greg, but a lot of the stars are reddish. Is this real because they are obscured by dust, or should the colour be corrected? Dunno.
Geoff

[Regulus]

This is certainly a very nice Nebula Greg, and it's a lovely photo of it.
Nice palette choice for this subject too.
Paul's suggestion on brightness makes me wonder though what it might look like (I have had a play with the full res version in Paintshop Pro and there is certainly room there to bring out a bit more detail without loosing the high-lights to much).
It's not at all necessary because this is a nice photo that puts all the attention on the 'wells of light', but I am curious to see what you would do with the original data to lighten it up :-)
Lovely photo mate.
Trev

[gregbradley]

Thanks Eric. Definitely the nicest part. I like the little subtle ribbon of pink as well.



To get brighter I would need more exposure time. I may just do that.



The stars are obscured by dust hence the red. Its not an artifact.



Cheers Marc. I'm happy with it except it could do with more time which I was always planning.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I fixed the stars, brightened it a tad and corrected more of the remaining noise. Not too bad now. I'll look to add some more data if the clouds clear. I almost got some last night but the clouds - sneakily- waited until I clicked start on the imaging run before they rushed in!

Greg.

[Andy01]

Hi Greg, hmmm - too much NR - sorry but to me it looks soft & mushy now :shrug:

'Tis a difficult target, I was having a crack myself last new moon under dark skies but I had a recurrence of the flare issue I originally experienced a year ago on the same thing. Puts me off LRGB imaging!

Regardless it seems to want bucket loads of data to reduce the noise :)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Andy.

I changed the image back to the original version. I guess there is no substitute for long enough exposure. Back to adding more data next clear no moon nights.

I've done this object before with a TEC180 and Proline 16803:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/108830707/large

Not as much detail in the reflection nebs but good detail on the dust and some surrounding Ha areas. I may try a blend of these and see if that brings up the image.


Greg.

[PRejto]

Love the blue from the Trius and the FOV & stars from the TEC180. I think I'll give it a go myself if the weather ever allows for another image to be taken!

Peter

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter. Yes I think they could be a good combo if I can get them to blend.

By the way I see Astronomik are selling 3 different types of luminance filters 2 of which are designed to cut down blue halos from imperfect correction from correctors etc. Could be what you were looking for?

Greg.