Gabriela Mistral 36 hrs

[Placidus]

This has always been one of our absolute favourite objects because of its visual appeal. We've always seen the face as that of a chef busy at the wok, with clouds and clouds of steam and smoke (and noodles) flying out behind the hair.

The image is a partial mosaic, with 24 hrs from the last few nights, plus 8 hrs from 2015.

Full sized image here. (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-ZxTC4k9/0/O/X%20Gabriela%20Mistral%20Ha%209%20O III%2013%20SII%2014%20hrs.jpg)

We wanted to make sure we had enough OIII and in particular SII to get the faintest bits right, and to have enough data to do some (very gentle) decon and sharpening without amplifying grit.

The chef's face is of great interest because it is largely composed of a very thin, strong, well-demarcated SII shock front. This seems to us to be a very rare thing. On the same topic, the magical rings of steam and smoke at the very left of the image are interesting if not actually puzzling in that they contain a lot of SII (think star-guts from previous supernovas) but very little OIII.

The sharp eyed will also see a large blue and gold kingfisher in left profile at the very top of the image, sitting on a twig, between said rings of steam and the back of the chef's head. There is also a large but worn-out teddy-bear occupying the lower half of the image directly below the chef's head.

Hubble palette: Red: 14 hrs SII, Green: 9 hrs H-alpha, Blue: 13 hrs OIII. All in 1hr subs.

Aspen CG16M on 20" PlaneWave on MI-750 fork. All processing (except making final thumbnail) using GoodLook 64.

Hope you like it too.
Best,
Mike and Trish

[strongmanmike]

I agree M&T a magnificent object and one of my favourites too :thumbsup: Wow, looks sensational in full res and even the decon/wavelettes is almost imperceptible.. so I'll give you a tick on that score :P. I really had great fun surfing this one and I like the colours used, very believable and they make sense. One of the best 3D objects in the sky.

Good one :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

Hells bells guys, the detail on the full res version is astounding! :eyepop:

I too love this region, having imaged it several times previously but I've never seen those S2 shockfronts in that kind of clarity, wow!

As to the interpretation of Paradolia like creatures, well - that's always going to subjective but it certainly is fun racking one's brain to find familiar shapes in these objects.

A tad cyan for my lurid colour palatte tastes but lovely work guys, well done!:thumbsup:

[RickS]

A remarkably sharp & deep image, M&T. Congratulations on a fine result :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Wow, thats stunning M&T. Masterfull processing and it just gets better zoomed in. The composition is excellent too, very often the veil to the left is missing, it adds dramatically to the scene.

[alpal]

Hi Mike & Trish,
that's a beautiful picture with loads of detail.
Well done.

cheers
Allan

[batema]

That is truly stunning. Beautiful photo.

Mark.

[Placidus]

Thanks hugely Mike. We are greatly encouraged.



Thanks Andy. Delighted you like the detail. Knew you wouldn't be so stoked on the colour, but we wanted to stick to straight Hubble, with the only constraint that the image is, if you were to "stir all the paint together", neutral grey. Oh, the stars are just H-alpha.



Thanks Rick !!



Thanks again, Fred. We remember fondly your comment on one of our earliest efforts: "Mike WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?". We must be improving :D



Thanks Allan!



Cheers, Mark. Delighted.

Very best,
Mike and Trish

[SimmoW]

Not much to say really.

'Benchmark'

[Atmos]

Very nice work MnT, come back to it a few times and just keep coming back to the right side of the image. It's fascinating!

[Camelopardalis]

What a beauty, well done M&T :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Blimey! Can really see the face in this one. ...1 hour subs!...

[marc4darkskies]

Excellent in every respect M&T! :thumbsup:

I'd of course opt for slightly richer colouring :whistle: ... but totally respect your choices! :thumbsup:

[rmuhlack]

Excellent work. :cheers: (I like the colour palette BTW)

I am also working on this target and with very similar framing (albeit with far more modest equipment), so yours will be a key reference image as I progress the project :)

[Flugel88]

Nice FOV i didn't know the Mistral dusty bits stretched out so far.
36 hours is a huge effort :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

I like it. Firstly it shows that its a bowl shaped nebula rather than a pancake.
Also what is that gaseous trail from the bottom bright star in the bowl? Its purplish so it implies the gas is coming off the star rather than nearby gas in the neb?

Great work. I like the tendrils off Eta Carina to the side makes the FOV more interesting otherwise this neb is a bit uninteresting.

Greg

[Placidus]

:) :D :D



Thanks muchly, Colin. At first we misread you to mean that we should do longer exposure on the right hand side. :scared3: But yes it is fascinating trying to work out what astrophysics might have generated such an image.



Thanks, Dunk!



Hi, Kevin. One of the few things that looks like its name.



Thanks muchly Marcus. :)



Thanks Richard. We eagerly await your version.



Hi, Michael. It's an interesting trade-off, wondering whether to show the fainter outer bits and pieces, because making bits that would otherwise be black look interesting and colourful must reduce overall contrast and detract from the main show, but we thought the features in the background, (including the kingfisher and the teddy bear) were sufficiently interesting to bring out.



Thanks, Greg. We guess that the true three-dimensional structure that you are referring to might be a big ball of gas that gave rise to the brighter stars within, and then the "front" wall between us and them was thinnest, and totally blasted away, whereas the right hand wall was very thick, and formed the hard shock front that delineates the face. Perhaps thinking about all that action adds to the interest.

The magenta zig-zag lightening streaks heading off toward 7 and 8 o'clock from the very bright star are most enigmatic. Can't recall any other instance of such a thing. What could produce such an assymetric effect?

Mike thinks it is the lightning bolts from the Emperor's fingers at the end of the original Star Wars.

Cheers,
Mike and Trish

[Atmos]

Nope, just kept coming back to it :P At 36 hours total with a 20" I think you should be fine!

It looks like the right hand side has been carved out by photon pressure, it has a hydrogen outer shell and an oxygen inner. The left hand side appears quite SII rich suggestion a turbulent past. I can only assume that the bright star at the bottom of the hollow bubble is what caused the bubble to hollow out :)



As a complete guess I would say that it is a large... dare I say massive star (thinking WR like Eta Carina) and it is losing grip of itself; this would explain the purple, a lot of OIII and SII and no hydrogen. I'll have to do some digging.

[Stevec35]

Beautifully done M&T. This is one of those objects that always looks best in narrow band and you've nailed it in every respect.

Cheers

Steve

[Placidus]

Thanks for that, Colin. I feel you are right about the main cavity. The bright star with the magenta lightning coming out of it is spectral class A2, which while very hot, seems a bit cool for a WR, so perhaps the lightning is a rare coincidence, unrelated to the star. Out of my depth here.



Thanks, Steve. :)

[strongmanmike]

ok ok...keep coming back for a look, t'is a super view guys :thumbsup:...sooo, sheesh I'll give you one of these :prey2: :rolleyes:

:lol:

Mike
who doesn't give out :prey2:'s easily! :cool2:

[codemonkey]

Nice field there guys! Very well composed. Processing is well done as well of course, made more impressive by the fact that you did it with your own software. Very cool.

[SimmoW]

WARRANTY CLAIM PENDING!!!

I just viewed the high rez image on my 4k monitor, it's so sharp my pixels weeped!

:jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

[Placidus]

Late reply here due to:

- Wheel nuts came loose on way to Sydney a week after having tyres replaced by Jax tyres. May be coincidence of course. Wheel stayed on and still alive but three studs had to be replaced. (Glad I wasn't the fourth one, he thinks.)
- On return, dry lightning strike just across road set fire to pasture. Still alive. Haven't checked our electronics yet. Last time there was a strike nearby, a circuit board in the observatory had been zapped.
- Local blackout. Got to read by torchlight. Very romantic.



Thank you so much Mike. Your gentle guidance over the years is slowly producing improvements.



Thanks Lee!



Hi, Simon. We are very chuffed.

Very best,
Mike and Trish

[Atmos]

All kinda of fun going on up there!

[topheart]

Great Image! -.....and .... Take Care!!
Cheers,
Tim

[Placidus]

While we were away, and grass fires in the next paddock beyond the observatory, our other neighbour came and put all four of our sprinklers on, just in case. There are some decent people in the world. Yesterday we got 6 mm of soaking rain, so risk passed.



Thanks, Tim.

[Peter Ward]

Sublime depth to this one....

nice one :thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Thanks muchly, Peter!

[rustigsmed]

very very nice M&T - I can remember that you actually commented on my first crack at GM some a couple of yearrs ago - you mentioned something about the gem cluster sneaking in the pic https://www.flickr.com/photos/80336656@N07/16877195082/in/dateposted-public/
any chance of another 36 hours for a pano?? haha

ive been quiet recently, but had to comment - fantastic work on this - well done!

Russ

[Placidus]

Thanks, Russell. Your image in natural colour is so amazingly different.

This part of the world is so rich in interesting features. It is hard to see where the Eta Carinae nebula finishes and other things like Gabriela Mistral or the nebulosity around the Gem Cluster begin. Perhaps there is no true edge, or perhaps they only seem to overlap along the line of sight but are separate in three dimensions.

Best,
MnT

[Shiraz]

What to say?? - exceptional image with good resolution, low noise and lively colour. well done all round.

[Placidus]

Thanks, Ray, that's encouraging.
Best,
M & T