The Running Man Nebula

[aarong]

I usually hide in the beginnings corner, but when posting my last image there I was encouraged to post in this section, so here goes (for the first time).

Data for this image was taken over multiple nights (13/02/2016, 19/02/2016, 25/02/2016, 28/02/2016 & 6-7/03/2016) when time and weather allowed. This summer/autumn hasn't been very good for imaging, so took some time to get enough data.

Image info:
Meade lx90 8" ACF
QSI683 WGS
Optex 0.62x Lepus reducer (really giving me 0.74x reduction)
L: 26x10min
R: 10x10min
G: 10x10min
B: 10x10min
Total: 9.3 hrs

Processed in PixInsight

Link to Astrobin here (http://astrob.in/242674/0/)

Comments on how to improve always welcome.
(Still working on my field curvature problem)

Cheers,
Aaron

[Andy01]

Nicely done Aaron - deserving of being seen indeed, well done :)

[Atmos]

Fantastic shot Aaron, great resolution!

[Cimitar]

That's awesome Aaron! :thumbsup:

You've picked up a massive amount of dust detail, which is excellent from my perspective. The colours in the Nebula are spot on for me. The surrounding stars look a little too orange for my liking, but that's just my personal taste. I'm a big fan of the lens flare effect in the centre of the image, I think it adds to the limited FOV that the Meade LX series has (I have an 8" LX200 ACF). I sometimes find myself wanting a slightly wider view so I can fit the whole DSO in...

Cheers, Evan

[strongmanmike]

That's a great result Aaron, the colours are spot on and quite lovely and the smoothness to the image looks natural too. The large halo's around the bright stars must be a little annoying but hey, sometimes there is little one can do about this sort of thing and they don't stop it from being an excellent image.

:thumbsup:

Mike

[batema]

Yep that is a ripper. Beautiful image.

Mark

[raymo]

I don't mean to hijack this thread in any way, but Evan, please don't
belittle your DSLR, there are stunning DSLR obtained images out there
that are very close in quality to fine CCD images; they just take a lot of
talent, time, and effort, to obtain. Google some DSLR images and see what I mean.
Absolutely lovely Aaron; sorry about the hijack.
raymo

[Cimitar]

Thanks Raymo, I agree there are many excellent DSLR results out there, at times to the point where it's hard to tell the difference between CCD & DSLR - I'm a huge fan of Scott Rosen's work + others here on IIS.

It was a tongue in cheek reference to my personal circumstances. I'll re-edit my initial post to ensure others are not discouraged.
Cheers, Evan

[Placidus]

Beautifully done. Love the greatly varying textures throughout the image.

Couldn't help noticing the great big barking anime-style dog with it's head at about 2 o'clock from centre and it's bum off-screen beyond 10 o'clock. Never seen that before. You've done a great job bringing out faint features.

[aarong]

Thanks all for your comments. I was surprised (in a good way) in how much fine detail came out in the end. Particularly, as conditions haven't been good. Looking away from the LP of Sydney helps a lot too!



Yes me too. The Running Man is almost reaching out to touch the dog.



Thanks. Yes I agree about the background stars. I too often long for some more FOV. If I can get the reducer working at closer to 0.62x, then that would be good.

[PRejto]

I'm impressed with this image. I really like the FOV and orientation. Perhaps the orange stars are a bit too orange though I think they might appear orange due to dust. If I were processing this I think I'd try everything I could to remove the large center halo (clone tool maybe?). I find it distracting to an otherwise very lovely image.

By the way, I just saw Adam Block's image of the Running Man. It's rather amazing and sets the bar very very high. His "blue" is a lot more subtle than what one normally sees and I find the resolution of the blue in front of the red remarkable. I'd love to know how he processed!

http://www.adamblockphotos.com/uploads/4/4/2/5/44258693/n1977.jpg

Anyway, your image is really nice. It's just interesting to see what is possible.

Peter

[Slawomir]

A very nice image, pleasant colours and good detail, well done Aaron :thumbsup:

[smader]

Very, very nice. You've captured the bipolar reflection nebula, Haro 5a/6a (or Herbig-Haro 294, right of center) rather well in this image.

[deeplook]

Hi Aaron,

usually we see the running man as an appendix of M42...
Love to see it as a main actor, well done!

Markus

[RickS]

A very nice Running Man, Aaron. Definitely deserves to be in the Deep Space forum. You could tone down the big blue halo with a little masking and some gentle curves.

Cheers,
Rick.

[dylan_odonnell]

What an epic image! Great job. You definitely belong in this section. In fact, that kinda makes me want to head back to the beginners forum myself!

d

[aarong]

Thanks all. Thanks also for the feedback and tips.

Aaron