IC1396 in HaOiiiSiiRGB

[RickS]

The Elephant Trunk in a mixed NB/RGB palette. I had decent data from all the filters and it'd be a shame to waste it :)

Captured at SRO, Jul - Aug, 2016

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Focuser: Atlas
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: Lodestar II / Tak guide scope
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 23x300s R, 24x300s G, 23x300s B, 25x1800s Ha, 28x1800s Oiii, 27x1800s Sii (~46 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

Acquisition credit: Bret Charles, Scott Johnson, John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Jose Mtanous and Rick Stevenson

Processing credit: Rick Stevenson

Higher res version on Astrobin: http://www.astrobin.com/264155/

Thanks for looking and please feel free to provide positive or negative feedback ;)

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir]

Interesting composition, lovely colours and Rick's perfect processing. In short, extremely high standard that we would normally expect from you Rick :)

The only thing that could be further improved is to do with optics/mechanics - star shapes in the top right and bottom left could be better. But I had to look VERY closely to spot that :lol:

[RickS]

Thanks, Suavi! I almost turned it upside down to look like tonsils instead of an elephant's trunk :)

You are correct about the star shapes. The problem with a remote scope is that tweaking collimation and camera tilt is inconvenient at best. The last time someone drove out to work on it it clouded over :shrug: For now we'll have to live with the imperfections.

[DJScotty]

That's reeeeeallllly nice Rick.
That's all I can say!

Scott

[RickS]

Thanks, Scotty! Working with the SRO data is a real pleasure. Of course, it's still possible to make it look terrible... with the awesome power of PixInsight :lol:

[Atmos]

Really nice Rick, quite an interesting region. In most of the region there isn't much in the way of hard edges, largely just gradients of gasses from one region to another. Very nicely handled.

[mountainjoo]

The full res is stunning. The structure of the trunk is so clear.

[troypiggo]

No fair showing off all these northern targets. This one seems to love being shot in narrowband/Hubble palette. Jealous as.

[marc4darkskies]

Superb Rick!

[Placidus]

Yummy. A pleasure to explore. Wish we could see it from Oz.

[gregbradley]

Stunningly good Rick. Its a perfect image, well done.

Greg.

[alpal]

Hi Rick,
that's a top class professional looking picture.
Well done.

cheers
Allan

[Stevec35]

Another top shelf image Rick. Well done!

Steve

[SkyViking]

That's very impressive, a great image Rick. Flawless processing indeed.
Inspires me to do some more narrowband once my obs is ready :)

[vlazg]

Beautifully done Rick, the palette is stunning

[strongmanmike]

Lovely shot Rick, you have showcased the subtle variations produced by the three main emissions nicely :thumbsup: One of those images that inspired a good long pan around and look, the sort of look that is usually reserved for busy galaxy fields - nice work indeed :)

As for the wonky stars identified by Suavi...:question:...even with the full res version open and even then, with my over sensitive dceonwavelette detectors on full.. I had to look pretty hard to see what he was talking about :lol: (I think he is a bit loony... like me :whistle:)

Mike
Love you Suavi :love2:

[RobF]

Whew. That's a tour de force Rick. Stunning!

[RickS]

Thanks, Colin. It's certainly interesting how the ionised gases are distributed. I'm sure it's even more complex than it looks from our 2D view.



Thanks, Jerome.



It's a tough gig but someone has to do it, Troy :P It certainly is one of those objects that just works in SHO!



Thank you, Marcus!



Ta, M&T. It seems unfair that we can't see everything.



Thanks, Greg!



Thanks, Allan.



...and thanks, Steve!



Thanks, Rolf. I hope you're up and running again soon. Can't wait for another of your images!



Thanks, George.



Thanks very much, Mike. I did do a little decon and hoped it was subtle enough to sneak past you ;)



I'll be getting jealous if you're not careful, Mike :lol:

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob!

[lazjen]

Another great image. Anything special about the processing you did here? How did you mix it?

[Andy01]

Beautiful image Rick, first class processing and well framed - A fine result for us mere mortals to aspire to :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Ta, Chris. I did something a little different with the colour data and blended a conventional RGB combine with my starless NB colour (both still linear.) This was just a little experiment but it worked so well that I decided to use the blend as the basis for the colour of the final image. The luminance was based on a noise-weighted integration of the data from all six filters. Otherwise, nothing really special.



Thanks, Andy!

[stevous67]

Hello Rick,

That is simply an inspirational image. Wonderfully processed. I have PI and use it selectively through a lack of understanding, but need more encouragement and knowledge to use it more fully. Once I get some new data, I'll just have to go back and force myself to learn it further.

Can I ask what the "Acquisition credit" line refers to?

Regards,

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve! PI is a complex package and it takes a while to learn your way around it. Warren Keller's new book should help folks get up to speed more quickly.



The data comes from a scope at Sierra Remote Observatory in California that is shared by the gang of six named in the acquisition credits. One of the members, John, provided most of the gear and the rest of us pay for running costs. We decide jointly on targets and share all the data. The system is automated with ACP Scheduler and data is distributed with Google Drive. It's pretty cool having a group of experienced imagers to kick ideas around especially when things go wrong!

[willik]

That is a Beaut image well done.
Willik

[atalas]

Excellent Rick:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks Willik & Louie!

[andyc]

I already saw this on Facebook, but got drawn back for another look, fantastic at full res Rick! Great processing skills on good data.

[RickS]

Thanks very much, Andy!

[Geoff45]

Beautiful picture Rick. Nice sharp detail and good subtle colour. It's also one of those pics which leads one to imagine all sorts interpretations-- a bit like imagining pictures in the clouds.
Geoff

[RickS]

Thanks, Geoff! It would be fascinating to unravel the processes that create complex structures like this. Probably beyond the computer simulation skills I learned in the late 70s :)

[multiweb]

Super colors and details Rick. That's a cool object. Shame we can't see it. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Marc! It's cool having a shared northern obsy. I don't care too much what we capture. It's all new to me ;)