Carina Encore

[Peter Ward]

New!

Improved!

...well... Re-processed :)

(With some expert input from one D. Malin....for which I am very grateful)

Hope you enjoy the encore view!

The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery382.html)

[Atmos]

Such lovely an intricate details Peter :)
Not sure if it is my eyes, my monitor or a combination of both but some of the whiter stars around Eta Carina appear to have a bit of a green tinge?

[Craige]

Stunning! :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

lovely, ruddy beautiful

[gregbradley]

A great image even better. What did you have to do to the bright stars?

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Sigh...a processing artifact.... I was oblivious to...but basically amplified noise. Sometimes you don't see the forest for the trees :doh:



Glad you like it :)


Ditto



Shouldn't be any green :question:...but I'll investigate...and appreciate the input.

[Tony_]

Superb image Peter! Amazing detail - so much to see.

Tony.

[mountainjoo]

Stunning image, the clarity blows me away. Congratulations on your award.

[Mighty_oz]

Sublime :)

[Stevec35]

Hard to see that ever being improved as an Eta Carina view Peter

Cheers

Steve

[marc4darkskies]

Yes, truly sublime Peter! Incredible detail! What's the image scale of the displayed image? What are the sub exposure details?

[Placidus]

If I came across this image not knowing its provenance I'd think it was the best Eta I'd ever seen. The colour is lovely (not too magenta) but it's the razor sharp detail that does the trick.

[speach]

Ho! yes

[Peter Ward]

Thanks to one and all above for your kind comments.:thanx:



The Alluna's native resolution is around 0.6 arc/sec per pixel with the STX...which is what I used for this image. The original was around 4000 pixels wide, but this was re-sampled to 1920HD size for the web.

Being in the suburbs, I use loooooong subs. Typically 20 minutes for RGB and 30 minutes for Halpha. The downside is I often get aircraft and satellites in the data, that no amount of pixel rejection will remove

SBIG's AO-X + Alluna's massive AFFC corrector is what really helped with the data....I had a run of sublime data with perfect stellar profiles to the edge of the sensor...this is *really tricky* with KAF16803's... they show even the slightest tilt or curvature that would be invisible when using a smaller chip.

The other piece of "white man magic" I am slowly relying on is Pixinsight's DBE tool.. Getting to understand this software is rather like bamboo-spikes under the fingernails...but once you more past the pain barrier it is a remarkable tool and well worth acquiring if you image in a light polluted location.

[Peter Ward]

The attached image gives a better perspective of the size of field corrector I referred to earlier....a serious optic!

[LightningNZ]

That's incredible Peter. I feel like I could "swim" through that detail for days.

[Andy01]

No exaggeration, that's the single best amateur deep sky image I've ever seen. Thoroughly and deservedly winning it's Malin Category. :bowdown:

I went looking unsuccessfully for your original version, to see what changes you made following Dr. Malins' input - would be an interesting comparison for us all to learn from. :)

So maybe we need a section here on the forum for "Benchmark images" of various subjects - this would surely be the definitive image for this one.
:2thumbs:

[traveller]

Wow, what a mesmerising view, loved the Finger of God!
Bo

[DJScotty]

Cliché alert - you have improved perfection.
So much sharper and richer in colour.
May i ask what you used to sharpen the image?

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
I still think it's the best picture ever posted on Ice in Space.

However - I am having trouble seeing the difference between this
& the original APOD:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160527.html

Maybe it's slightly more colourful & sharpened better?

cheers
Allan

[Peter Ward]

Trumpler 14 contains hot, blue stars, and this was not shown in the earlier versions. Also, the 4K resolution image submitted to CWAS showed "speckle" around many of the stars, due a processing error on my part. I've still not completely fixed that aspect, which would require a serious amount of time to repair.

Apart from addressing the above, I masked the stars and added a smidge of USM to the nebulosity with photoshop. The changes are subtle, but I think worthwhile.

Ta...see above

Ah the fickle finger :) always a good yardstick



Again, as above and :thanx:



To quote Disney's Dory...just keep swimming :)

[Paul Haese]

The second I saw the original I knew it would win the DSO section of the Malins. It had everything that David likes and probably more. Congratulations on the win. I cannot really see much change and think both images are very good.

[rustigsmed]

congrats on the win Peter, that really is a superb image so much detail in there - i can't think of a better amateur eta carina - and there are plenty around!

just on a side note how do your raw light frames look after such long exposures? do they appear washed out due to sky glow / light pollution - then require a lot of black point level movement? most people opt for much shorter rgb subs.

cheers

russ

[Peter Ward]

I wouldn't go that far, but thanks :thumbsup:

The STX16803 has excellent cooling and a very good dynamic range, hence 20 minute subs are no problem. Using a DSLR, anything more than about 2 minutes becomes a tragedy...as I've already discovered with my full spectrum Canon.



Ta Paul, though you've got me, as I still don't know what David "likes" other than: if the colour isn't right your chances become very slim.

Indeed the changes are subtle....but Dr Malin still picked up on the errors :doh: ...he has a remarkably keen eye!

[AG Hybrid]

Good grief the resolution! If someone told me that was an image from a space telescope or something from Hawaii or South America I'd believe them.

A deserving winner indeed.