IC2872 - The Chickens Head (now with HaRGB composite version)

[strongmanmike]

Had three good nights last month where the planets of life aligned and allowed me excursion out to Wallaroo to... drink beer :drink:, sing :face: and image under great sky conditions :2thumbs: :)

IC 2872 is the patch of nebulosity that forms the head of the famous Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944) in Centaurus...that everyone knows so well.

This is an SII Ha OIII palette, that clearly shows the distribution of the three different emission lines throughout the field. (more details can be found under the image at the link below)

IC 2872 The Running Chicken's Head (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/165229546/original)

EDIT: Processed as an HaRGB composite (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/165256035/original) using all data sets

So..?..Where is this nebula? (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/165229701/original) anyway....? :D (BTW note the size of the field provided by the big 16803 chip in the full chicken shot - same scope :eyepop: )

Mike

[Atmos]

Bok Bok Bok :P
Very nice Mike!

[Shiraz]

:thumbsup: lovely softness to the nebulosity with fine clean detail and restful colour - a very polished image Mike

[marc4darkskies]

You've strayed a teeny bit into neon territory for my tastes, but it IS a lovely image Mike! :thumbsup:

The headless chook is on my todo list but the 400mm or so of rain dumped on my house so far this year plus the endless cloud has dampened my hopes of EVER using my equipment! :sad: :mad2:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Bart ;)

Mike



Thanks Ray, lately I have tended to prioritise the physics revealed by the allocation of the emission line data rather than the more artistic aesthetics ...?...meah...probably just a phase I am going through :lol:



Funny, I know you too well Marcus, I knew you would comment on the colours :lol: ...I did'em just for you :love:

You have not had much luck since getting that Italian Stallion, huh? :sadeyes:...bet it bloody looks good sitting in that closed up dome though? :thumbsup:...I'd just go out and sit with him occasionally and talk, while drinking strong espresso and a Canoli :P

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Nah ... I don't need to go to all the trouble of walking outside and unlocking the obs. I can just sit and stare at it from inside via my PC ..... while sipping espresso.

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...love it!

[Andy01]

I think it's a good image, and pleasing to see all the detail revealed in a subject which is not often imaged at this FL. :thumbsup:

Colours? Hey, they are whatever you want them to be in NB depending on one's intention and objective - same goes magenta stars, love 'em or hate 'em it's dealers choice. :shrug:

For some it's the science, for others the aesthetics - both schools of thought are valid imo, a bit like comparing Oxford & Cambridge!

That being said the S2 yellow appears a tad saturated on my monitor, and the image clearly shows the three bandwidths present.
The dark whispy bits in the O3 region are also revealed in all their glory.
I havn't seen them as clearly before.

Great stuff :D

[gregbradley]

Nice image Mike. Perhaps it was the singing that helped!

You always get such nice round stars. I like these neb images that show the edges like a cliff face along a coastline.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Agree with everything there Andy...including the saturation, might revisit that bit ;) but glad you still liked it :)



Cheers Greg, I agree cliffs do look good, best one is in Gabriela. Yes, relatively happy with the performance of this poor mans Honders and the H694 ;) :thumbsup:

Mike

[Stevec35]

I have to say that the colour is a bit too neon for my taste Mike but other than that it's a very nice image.

Cheers

Steve

[Placidus]

Such sharp detail, most especially in the really fine dust lanes. Excellent handling of contrast. Your OIII is especially deep, showing bits that are very easily missed, or swamped.

All of these are shown nicely in the attached, the bit that we think is really the chook's head - angled 45 degrees - two bulbous bloodshot eyes and a very sharp beak.

Gorgeous result, Mike. Love it.

Best,
M & T

[RickS]

Finger-lickin good, Mikey :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Ray thinks it is restful colour you think it is too neon :nerd: gotta love this NB stuff :lol:..but all good, pretty common when presenting a NB image :thumbsup:



Glad you enjoyed the view guys, always helps when the viewer is a little colour blind though, they have more tolerance for various palettes :lol:

That looks nothing like a chicken :eyepop:....that's clearly a praying mantis! :rolleyes: :P



11 secret herbs and spices went into this Rick...aaand a few litres of beer, a coupl'a whiskies and plenty of coffee with many aria's thrown in :)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

I have composed a HaRGB colour palette version but using all data sets.

In this palette, this nebula is varying shades of red and magenta from HII with influence from OIII, Hbeta and less from blue reflection.

There are very few, if any, other HaRGB close ups of this nebula out there but wide fields by Marcus Davies (http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/122872808/large) and Marco Lorenzi (http://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/Nebulae/i-r5rkfMD/A) confirm the essentially true colour palette... so, something different anyway :thumbsup:

IC2872 HaRGB (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/165256035/original)

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Fantastic project Mike. Thanks to your graphic I can finally see the chicken in all its glory.

[Retrograde]

Normally I prefer RGB (as admittedly as my taste for narrowband isn't fully developed) but on this I certainly prefer the narrowband as there is just so much more going on.

Both are fantastic images in any case. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rod, yep, there she is...bok bok bok :thumbsup:



Thanks Pete, I tend to agree, more features delineated in the full narrow band version :thumbsup:

Mike

[Stevec35]

Looks somewhat less neon than when I last looked at it Mike so to me the colour looks great now. All in all it's a very good image but it's not my impression of the chicken. In one of my images of it:

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/ic2948_STXL6303_RC14_Hubble.jpg

I reckon the head of the chicken is below the Bok globules at the centre of the frame. Of course I'm probably in the minority with this view. I usually am in most things.

Cheers

Steve

[strongmanmike]

He he yeah it can sometimes be a good idea to take a few long looks at a NB image, even over a couple'a days, before settling on an impression... I haven't changed the image since first posting :) I do this with Andy's out-there NB images, seldom taking my first impressions as gospel...after a few reviews my eyes usually get tamed to his interpretation and the image he has presented can start to grow on me so the positive aspects can shine through more :thumbsup:

As for the running chicken, well, it is definitely the appearance of the whole nebula in wide field not the traditional Bok globule narrow field close up....although Winston Churchill's cigar is in there :P

Mike

[Stevec35]

My eyes must be going. Perhaps I've recently grown less sensitive to vivid colours but your point is very valid - you shouldn't base everything on the first look.

I think the point I was trying to make is that there are other things in that nebula that could be interpreted as chickens but given that the whole nebula is called the running chicken perhaps you are correct.