Pussy Paw, COLOUR Galore

[marc4darkskies]

As expected, seeng didn't cooperate to be able to gather more Lum this cycle. But, I did gather plenty of RGB (105, 105 120 minutes) and though the seeing wasn't good, I made it work!

As you can see, this is NOT a bland red neb.

45% full scale - screen sized
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/165743036/original

Full res for those who like to wade around and look at structure and image quality (<Cntrl-minus> and <Cntrl-plus to zoom out and in)
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/165743164/original

In the spirit of amusing but meaningless comparisons with outrageously large professional scopes :P:lol:, see here for a comparison with the ESO 2.2m in Chile.
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/165743636/original

The top one is mine, the middle one is a very red version taken through the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile (reduced by approx 50%) and the bottom one is the same ESO image reprocessed by Rob Gendler to bring out some of the hidden colour - he left a few halos though! The ESO image clearly has more fine detail (of course) but the processing of it seems to miss much of the other faint structure and colour :shrug:.

All up, mine's not bad for a mere 8 hours of integration (under good to very good seeing) so I've decided NOT to gather NB for it because I doubt an NB rendition could could improve much on the impact of this rendition(?) Besides good conditions here are too rare to be extravagant with integration times! I may get some more lum next cycle though.

Marcus

[Geoff45]

Your detail is very good Marcus and you've left these guys for dead in the processing. Well done!
Geoff

[lazjen]

Great image and yeah you've done far better processing than those ESO images.

[atalas]

Looks fantastic Marcus :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: ...prefer the screen size view because you can get the full impact and boy do I mean impact!!!

Wouldn't expect anything less from you....hope It gets you many accolades.

[multiweb]

Pretty sweet Marcus. You've got the best colors of the lot. :thumbsup: The ESO has more fine details obviously. Not sure what happened with the Gendler rendition though... :shrug:

[PRejto]

Pretty fantastic (and pretty)! So wonderfully detailed. It pops!

Peter

[Placidus]

That's fantastic, Marcus.

Normally I really struggle to appreciate straight RGB, but this one is great.

Superbly done! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

A lovely rendition. Love the colouring.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Prefer the smaller version Marcus and the colour is nice. Another example of old favourites showing they have more than just boring red.

[mountainjoo]

Really like this, far from the red blob often portrayed. The detail is superb.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Geoff & Chris! I guess scientists at ESO have better things to do than process their images for aesthetic appeal. :)



Thanks for that Louie! As long as my peers think it's a good effort I'm a happy vegemite! :D I post the full res when the seeing is good because I think it reveals the maximum level of detail more easily than squinting at a small image. EVERYONE should post at full res, mm'kay!



Cheers Marc! Like I said above - the scientists probably have better things to do than to sit processing a single image for a whole day! I'm guessing Gendler used some colour data from another resource - with lower res. Just guessing though :question:.



Thanks a lot Peter!



Much appreciated M&T! I thought about doing NB before I realised this is not a bland red object at all. The nuances of colour in the LRGB are quite spectacular.



Thanks very much Greg!



Ta Paul.



Thanks Jerome! I've always believed that pure red nebs are quite rare - some just make you work harder to reveal their secrets! :bashcomp:

[alan meehan]

Thanks for sharing Marcus wonderful detail

[Atmos]

That's fantastic Marcus! When I did it with the Nikon D810 it showed some colour variation but no where near to the same extent as what yours does! Maybe I needed more than 1.5 hours to bring out that colour contrast?

Benchmark LRGB shot of the region :)

[Ryderscope]

Lovely. Nicely resolved stars. Good detail.

[Peter Ward]

What's not to like?

Great image scale, technical markers totally nailed.

One of the best renditions I think I've seen period....literally the cat's whiskers :)

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Excellent detail and colour Marcus!

Steve

[DJT]

Great image Marcus. Top job:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Quite a nice result Marcus and yes.. you have processed it to show lots of colour..... for a red nebula ;) :thumbsup:



Oh yeah...ah huh, meaningless huh?...but ya still did it ;) :lol: a fun comparison.

Great job :thumbsup:

Mike

[SimmoW]

Yep you've done an excellent job extracting good color out of this target. That Chile image? Wow, rather strong red eh!

[Andy01]

+1 echoing Peter's comments - that is a brilliant, first class result, one of your very best imo. :bowdown:

Better than the ESO one as well ;)

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Alan!



Much appreciated Colin! I did more R, G & B than normal with 15 min subs and that helped draw out the fainter colour.



Thanks Rodney! We have to remember too that the full res image resolution is only 0.59 arcsec / pixel, so I was pretty chuffed to get tight stars at that scale! Seeing is everything!



High praise Peter - thanks very much!



Cheers Steve - glad you think so!



Thanks David!



Ta Mike. Let me know if you think it can be improved.



Hehe ... well I was pretty chuffed at the detail I got - and I found no other renditions on the web that got close, except the ESO image, so I thought that was worth demonstrating. Yep, a fun comparison in any case but I promise never to do it again! :lol:



Cheers Simon!



Thanks very much Andy! It's very encouraging to get this kind of feedback!

[topheart]

Totally sublime Marcus!!

A dramatic rendition.About the best I have seen of this object - up close.
Congratulations!!
Cheers,
Tim

[cometcatcher]

Lovely shot Marcus. The blues really make it nicer than my red version. I'll have to work on that next time.

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Tim! Glad you liked it so much. I like the drama too! :)



Thanks Kevin - I had plenty of colour data so when I did the combine the colours just popped out - no fuss.

[traveller]

Stunning effort Marcus.
The full size file is just amazing.
Bo

[Retrograde]

Absolutely gorgeous image Marcus. Don't believe I've ever seen a better image of this object. :eyepop:

I don't think the comparison with professional images is meaningless. It shows just what amateurs with skill and commitment are capable of.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Bo!



Thank you kindly Pete!

[Martin Pugh]

Very good Marcus. This object does have color variation and you have nailed it.

Clear skies
Martin

[Bart]

That is a nice job! Nice colouring and great detail.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Martin! Very glad you think so! Unfortunately, the seeing I got for colour wasn't good, so it was a bit harder to process. I muddled through though. :D



Cheers Bart!

[RickS]

A very tasty and tasteful rendition, Marcus! Great work with the subtle colouring.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Rick! Buuuut ... :question: ... you weren't licking your screen by any chance were you? :lol:

[Slawomir]

Wow, a splendid image. A very pleasing balance of colours that highlight interesting features yet you have managed to make it look natural. I would personally be a bit more gentle with noise reduction, nontheless this is a benchmark RGB image for this target for sure :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much Suavi! It's always very satisfying to achieve "benchmark" status. My goal with well known nebular objects is to make them look "new" by revealing detail and tonal nuance not seen in wide-field shots.

I don't think I was too bullish with the noise mitigation. My rule of thumb is to ensure that no detail is lost (I do lots of blink comparisons) and ONLY mitigate noise in low signal areas. Did you see any areas that you think are overdone?

[David Fitz-Henr]

Absolutely brilliant image Marcus, must be one of the best of this object! Certainly as far as the colour data / processing is concerned :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Gee, I'm guilty of thinking this one was nothing but red.
Thanks for correcting me my knowledge with such a fine image Marcus. :)

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks very much David!



Cheers Rob! Mission accomplished then! ;)