Helix nebula Bicolour

[Somnium]

when the clouds parted and the seeing was ... okay ... i managed to get this image. Image was taken in Ha and Oiii, i did take some Sii but decided not to use it. i included in this thread the last time i took this target, which would have been about 8 months ago. The equipment upgrades have definitely helped, but i think the biggest difference between the two is the processing. thanks in no small part to those on this forum who have put up with my constant questions but it looks like i am starting to see some results.

The main objective of this was to get a glimpse at the cometary knots of hydrogen gas at the boundary between the Ha and Oiii region. These are about the size of the solar system with the mass of earth. I simply don't understand why everyone doesn't find this absolutely fascinating!

Image details

Scope: AGO iDK 14.5
Mount: Paramount MX+
Camera: FLI ML 8300
Filters: Baader 50mm NB

Subs 20 mins bin 2x2
Ha 10 hours
Oiii 8 hours
total integration time 18 hours

Green was made up of 90% ha and 10% Oiii with Ha used as Lum

a higher resolution can be found
https://www.facebook.com/618688161540178/photos/a.734031263339200.1073741833.618688 161540178/1075771229165200/?type=3&theater

[Atmos]

It looks really nice Aidan! Is that your whole FOV? When both Paul (FSQ106) and Bert (RH200) did their Ha versions there was some fainter detail that spread out a little further than what yours shows, FOV wise.

Your new and improved version is certainly a big improvement!

[Somnium]

yeah i dont get much in terms of FOV, i am imaging at 2.5m with an 8300 chip so around 30' FOV. i can see detail extending on both sides of the PN but i wasn't really focusing on it, i don't have the FOV to do it justice

[Atmos]

The 16200 could be a nice upgrade up from the 8300. Slightly larger pixels, more real estate and lower read noise.
Although the 11002 has a lot of read noise compared to most of the newer chips on the market, it has pixels that match better with your FL and its only an issue with narrowband. LRGB imaging isn't very read noise sensitive.

[Placidus]

Very sharp and well processed. A great shot. The cometary knots that were your target came out very well. The orange-and-blue colour scheme works. Trouble with the Helix is that there's no limit to the maximum useful exposure time - there are always more faint features to be brought out.

[Rex]

Awesome shot Aidan! You've managed to show quite a bit of detail in the fine finger like structures reaching out to the centre star. Nicely done.

[RickS]

Very nice, Aidan. Interesting colour and good detail. You can spend a lot of time tweaking this object... perhaps try adding some Oiii to the Lum and see if you can bring out the "spokes" more?

Cheers,
Rick.

[multiweb]

That NB shot is something. Very cool. :thumbsup:

[Somnium]

Thanks Rick, i have been playing around with different options a bit, when i add more of the Oiii to the Lum, it softens the detail in the Ha, i am finding it difficult to bring out both and decided that teh Ha was a little more interesting. is there a technique to avoid watering down the Ha detail? i was just applying the Oiii at 40% opacity and masking away the areas i didnt want to focus on.

Thanks Rex, appreciate it

Thanks M&T. i did have a go at bringing out the faint detail but it just got too noisy and detracted from the overall pic, perhaps i could do a Paul Hease mammoth 111 hours but even his image was getting noisy in the faint stuff.



yeah i could do that but i don't have a limitless wallet, i have definitely eyed off the 16200 but the 8300 is almost perfect when you Bin 2x2, i only started doing that for this image and i think i will keep it up, really happy with the results. i think i will leave a camera upgrade until the next step forwards, e.i. when better AO comes to the market. i am not too concerned about the small FOV, most of what i am interested in imaging is relatively small.

[atalas]

Very fine work Aidan....the detail is yummy!

[Somnium]

Thank Louie



Thanks Marc :)

[willik]

Very good image.

[Retrograde]

That's superb Aidan. Love it.

[Somnium]

Thanks guys

[RickS]

I don't have a magic bullet solution for that, unfortunately Aidan. It might be possible to do something clever with wavelets in PI.

[Somnium]

Hmm I use PS, I was thinking that there may be different layering options that I could use. I will see what I can do.

[RickS]

Sorry, I don't use PS. It's too complex and the UI is non-standard :lol:

[Somnium]

You get used to it

[RickS]

I'm sure I would if I used it more than very occasionally. Any powerful image processing package will be inherently complex. Whatever gets the job done for you is the right solution :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

That's a very nice Helix Aidan, colours look nice and your goal of revealing the globules was certainly well met. Minor suggestion, perhaps you might consider adding some separate star data just to clean up a few of the wonky ones there a tad? But yep, always good to reminisce, just to see how far you have come, so well done there :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Quite a nice Helix there. I would have expected a bit more from 18 hours though. Did you use any 2x2 or was it all 1x1? On your 14.5 2x2 may make more sense as 9 microns is the better match for your optics. Then again the broader Ha wings are further out in the FOV.

An unusual colour scheme for bicolour. Usually it would look different than that but its all fair in narrowband.

As Mike said the biggest gain would be to add some brief short exposure RGB stars to the image.

A massive improvement over the earlier version.

Greg.

[Somnium]

Thanks Mike, i am keen to get in some RGB stars, i would assume that to do that you first do a starless NB image then include the RGB data with a star mask, but i have no idea how to get the starless version in the first place using PS. do you need a plug in to do the interpolation ? i would imagine that just doing a star mask wont quite work as well as it is difficult to get it looking good and avoid getting strange halos ...



Hi Greg, all of the data was 2x2. it just seems to be much better for my set up. as far as getting more from 18 hours, i was going for the hubble look http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0305/helix03_hst.jpg which is also the reason for the colour scheme. i am actually really happy with the colours, perhaps not what everyone would choose but i think it is quite striking. i actually noticed that the old image was taken with the PMX ... so i am really happy with how i have improved over the last 12 months. no image is perfect, but this is definitely my best one yet.

[strongmanmike]

Hmmm? well, I would just do a simple RGB combine with say 10-20min of each then blend it with your final NB image in what ever waiting's make your stars look the colour you would like them for the final NB presentation (usually not pure RGB) then select just the stars (colour range > highlights or Noel Carboni's select RGB stars action) and copy and past them back into your original final NB version, feathering etc and blend to taste using PS blend mode...easy :)

Mike

[Somnium]

ahh so straight forward then :)

i will give it a go on my next NB image, with my worm gear replaced i am looking at focusing on new targets. making a clean break from the 8" RA variability that i had with the old worm.

[vlazg]

Fantastic Aidan, great to see you have solved your mount problems

[Somnium]

Thanks George, it certainly looks like the issues are solve, but this was taken while still dealing with the tracking problems. i am looking forward to seeing how i go with sub arc second PE :)