The Jewel of the Nile - M42 in NB

[Andy01]

My take on this perennial favourite in glorious Narrowband.

There are some hints of NGC 1999 at 4 o'clock (anyone remember Space 1999 on TV?) and some cool shapes in the outer gaseous regions, not often seen - especially the "finger" at 7 o'clock.

This is 7 different filters, (there's Ha, O3, S2 & a touch of N2, R, G & B) and 17 datasets combined.
Man that was a lot of data to process and collate, something like 25 hrs all up in 60sec, 300 sec, 1200 sec and 1800 sec exposures.

I've added RGB stars in as well, might as well throw the kitchen sink at it! :D

Interesting how "the Running Man" doesn't feature in NB. :shrug:

He showed up ok in the Blue but probably needs more broadband integration than these 18x60 sec subs allow.

The outer Ha regions were a killer, even after 14 hrs exposure there's still a touch of noise there, but it's time to move this one along.

FYI - I've mapped Ha to blue, O3 to orange/red & S2 (enhanced with a touch of N2) to yellow/green - hopefully this unconventional colour palette allows sufficiently clear separation of these NB Emission lines.

High res HERE (http://www.astrobin.com/275261/)

Anyway, as always, thanks for looking, hope you like it - comments welcome :)

[Atmos]

That is a really interesting way of mapping it Andy, very unconventional but looks line. The first word that came to my mind was "electric".

[batema]

I think that looks beautiful. I wish we had some clear skies here to attempt any kind of photography. Well done.

[marc4darkskies]

Yep, "unconventional" is the word Andy! :lol: A very striking rendition for sure! :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

You're way out of control Andy!:eyepop:

Top marks for experimenting though.

Greg.

[alpal]

That's great Andy,
it's always interesting to see a new take on a common target.

cheers
Allan

[Shiraz]

Startling! really interesting interpretation of the region Andy - like it a lot.

[SimmoW]

Well, it's painterly Andy :painting:

[Kunama]

Nice change from the usual renditions...
(A bit more colour than we saw in it last night)

[Camelopardalis]

Ooooo pretty :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Electric Blue? You must be an IceHouse fan Colin :lol:



Thanks Mark, yes after a long cloudy winter in Melbourne we had an unprecedented run of clear nights recently - thanks for the kind words :thumbsup:



Cheers Marcus - life would be boring if we all did the same thing :)



Er, thanks Greg :tasdevil: No experimentation here, perhaps some bold choices and lots of careful post production to collate and present all that data, whilst taking onboard all the feedback kindly given over the past year. :work:



Cheers Allan, yes it was fun to go out on a limb - I confess to holding my breath for a moment after posting this one, phew! :lol:



Thanks Ray, very kind of you to say so :thumbsup:



Cheers Simmo - I hoped to create that look, and retain the details :)



Thanks Matt, I've only seen glimpses of blue/green colour on this when seen visually, co-incidentally through a nice big Tak at an ASV star party once. Thanks for your positive feedback :D



Mmmm, cheers Dunk - glad you liked it too :party:

[AG Hybrid]

I enjoyed this image. A very different rendition of probably the most popular astrophotography target of all time.

[Atmos]

I did have that song in my head :P

[RickS]

Very interesting Andy. After a day I can't decide if I like it or not. Give me a while longer... :)

[The_bluester]

Argh, now so do I!

Tricky work to get the detail without the core being blown off the screen. Interesting that the running man is so faint, I could not see it at all on my PC at work, only spotted it here at home on my own monitor.

[Andy01]

Thanks very much Adrian.
Yes it's the "Kraft cheese" of nebulas all right - as in everyone's tried it - but still a very pretty object regardless of how it's treated.



Saw Icehouse with Simple Minds back in the 80's at Cloudland ballroom in Brissy - best sound mix I ever heard. Iva's voice was pitch perfect too, great show. :thumbsup:



waiting, waiting..... :zzz: lol:



Yes he's elusive - A reflection nebula I'm guessing, so probably a broadband target in it's own right.
Also as NGC 1999 has a blue reflection component it's not seen here either.

Was interesting watching the Hubble doco on TV last night.
The EGGS (Evaporative Gaseous globules) ie: star forming regions of M16 were discussed, and I'm pretty sure there's one seen here at 7 o'clock - it looks like a finger.

[Stevec35]

Certainly interesting Andy. Not sure if I like the colour or not but it's an expertly processed image whatever the colour.

Cheers

Steve

[JA]

Well Done Andy. It definitely has that time-portal theme going on there. I could see it in your original monochrome image, when I mentioned that sense of depth you had captured I suppose through a sort of shading created by the very fine dust, that even on the monochrome, I'd not noticed with other images of the same area.

Best
JA

[Andy01]

Thanks Steve, certainly this one has polarized the panel - and I'm still comfortable with that - I like to try different ideas and concepts.

Notwithstanding that M42 has been done to death by everyone, imo it's a prime candidate for a new approach.

Thanks for the kind comments about the quality of the processing too :thumbsup:



Cheers JA, one can certainly get lost in depths of these majestic swirls & forms within the M42 region. It's why I love NB imaging, one can reveal so much more structure than in broadband. :)

[strongmanmike]

Like the Horsehead, I've never seen a rendition of The Orion neb in narrowband that I liked the look of :shrug: Of course many other nebs seem to suit the palette and this might just be that being so bright and well known in true colour my brain can't warm to it. It could also be that there is just so much molecular material that doesn't show up in NB filtered data it just isn't as interesting :question:. This is however not the case with many other nebs, especially those that are faint in RGB and lower in dust. Top marks for effort though Andy, it proabbly has some purely artistic apeal to many eyes :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your insights and thoughts.

Have to say though that I love B33 & M42 in NB, images such as B33 (https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7592/16581544117_b55bd4a5dd_b.jpg) and B33 (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1e/92/c7/1e92c7933c14acd6e1dbf9b3c25cc0ef.jp g) and M42 (http://astronomer.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/M-42-NB-Robert-Fields-_-One-Minute-Astronomer.jpg) and M42 (https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_693.html)represent bold departures from traditional image making that appeal to my sensibilities.

I like your thoughts regarding the structure and composition of the nebula having a bearing on the images outcome. That's food for thought indeed.

Anyway, seems that while many like this image, some others don't and I suspect that's always going to be the case with my current approach to NB work. :D

[strongmanmike]

Hey no worries Andy, I know like all of us, you put a bit of work in to all your images, so I don't mean to pass less than positive comments, just my honest opinion, I hope you understand? In the end as you suggest, when it comes to NB images, it is usually simply a matter of personal likes and dislikes and in no way should my feedback reflect on you as a person or an imager :thumbsup:. I just can't warm to the way of the gross manipulation of colours for the sake of it, I think there needs to be at least some control and relevance to an astroimage. If it is simply just a work of art only, then in my mind that is not quite enough and no longer represents true astroimaging to me.. but rather verging on arbitrary coarse impressionistic art :shrug:

Anyway, regardless, I totally get what motivates you and your particular bent and I am sure many others really like this approach....who knows, it may even grow on me...one day :eyepop: :thumbsup:

I do like that Spitzer/HST M42 but the others are yukky mukky :scared:
Mike