Vanilla trifid

[Peter Ward]

This one nearly drove me spare...as Louie mentioned in a "same object from similar location" post...awful seeing in the Sydney area....plus the urban lights in my area are clearly getting worse as I don't think I ever really tamed the gradients.

That said, rather than clip the blacks, figured I'd show the faint background stuff, even if it does have an artificial colour tinge.

But, hey, it was clear & fun to do....and M20 is still such a pretty object.

The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery400.html)

Hope you still enjoy my urban view :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

A very pleasing view Peter - and reasonably sharp. Commiserations on the seeing but beggars can't be choosers I guess ... I've had 150 minutes of good seeing in the last 2 years! :lol: Time to move to a darker site!

[Placidus]

Very sharp result, and particularly good HH jet and evaporative gaseous globule. Achieved in short order, too.

[Slawomir]

Very pleasing result Pete, in particular given limited integration. Perhaps background is a tad greenish :question: Great detail in the both nebulosities :thumbsup:

[atalas]

Still a great result Peter:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: the faint stuff around the Trifid is wonderful too!stop winging old man :lol:

There was some good seeing on the 22/23/ 4....did you catch any data that night?would of made for some great luminance for this shot!

[Stevec35]

Pretty good result for your location though Peter. Perhaps a touch of HLVG might help with the slight greenish background tint.

Cheers

Steve

[topheart]

As always, I am amazed what you can achieve from the Sydney SoupPlus!
Cheers,
Tim

[Retrograde]

Vanilla perhaps but beautifully done - especially considering your urban location.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Tim, but I suspect I'll have to migrate to Narrow Band imaging soon...gets harder with every new boat arrival :)



Ta Steve...tinkered with some more...but I suspect I'll need a tad more data and total repro before I'm happy



Thanks Louie...yes... I'm officially a grumpy old man...and I missed the good seeing. :doh:







Thanks Gentlemen....imaging from a dark site would be a wonderful thing...
...sigh..no more green gradients...I'm thinking a move to the Southern Highlands in retirement might not be such a bad idea :) But how to sell it to the little lady who runs things around here :question:

[madwayne]

Great image Peter, given the conditions.

Take it from someone who moved from Sydney down to the Highlands (I'm at Robertson) you'll get less Astronomy down here than Sydney. When we get clear nights they are cracking, and mighty cold at this time of the year. Maybe somewhere West of the freeway, like Canyonleigh, might be worth considering.

Wayne

[Peter Ward]

Thanks for the advice Wayne :thumbsup:...I installed a 3.5 metre dome for a client in Robertson many, many, moons ago and often wondered how the local weather there worked for him.

Cold wouldn't bother me...I can operate my set-up remotely :D

[Slawomir]

I'm in the same boat at you Pete! I think you could start complaining about pollution and how it adversely affects health ;)

[Atmos]

Very nice Peter!
If you get some decent seeing next full moon redoing the luminance will really allow that Alluna to show its contrast and sharpness :P

[JA]

A Wonderful Image :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Peter Ward]

Nah...it's just plain vanilla (aka "Space Balls" yoghurt)



I try to avoid imaging under a full moon...but am pleased to say I finally tracked down that directory I had last year's data in.

I've now combined both images!

NEW! Improved!...but same URL



Ah...yes..my health...well at least I'm still kicking :) !

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
that's a great shot -
almost unbelievable from a suburban location.
I'd love to image this wonderful target.
The blues have a slightly strange hue.
I think the blues need a bit of adjustment
by boosting cyan for neutral & blue in Photoshop -
"selective colour. "

cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

Remarkably sharp and detailed. I like the "snails" eye stalks, so detailed.

The reds/pinks worked really well.

Greg.

[Andy01]

Now you're talking!
This new version is lovely, super sharp, well balanced and exactly the quality we have come to expect and enjoy from you :thumbsup:

Rippabonzabeauty mate! :D

[Atmos]

My bad, was supposed to say "new moon" :lol:

Looking a wee bit sharper now :P

[marc4darkskies]

Yep, 'uuuge improvement! :thumbsup: Beautiful!

[RobF]

Just wonderful to swim around in. Never get tired of a nice triffid, and that's a cracker. :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Thanks guys...it still needs a tidy up as the combine was with Photoshop, rather than say, Pixinsight.







Again thanks guys...I guess the 'scope is a keeper....It's also worth mentioning I used the AO-x for guiding...5Hz was as much as the guide star allowed, but I'm convinced it helps with pulling things in that little bit tighter.



Meh..the blue looks OK to me...

Urban imaging...while a PITA...is nothing more than, taming the noise, taking some time for well calibrated flat fields, exposing a heck of a lot longer than you'd need at a dark site and having a good gradient removal tool.

PixInsight's background modeling is well worth getting a handle on. :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
no one else has mentioned it but it looks like a purple sort of blue.
Maybe I'm color blind?
It doesn't really matter - it's a superb picture.

cheers
Allan

[Peter Ward]

:question:..it is possible there was some spill from the h-alpha layer....slight tweak now applied. :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Ahh yes - now the blue is blue.
perfect .

cheers
Allan

[Raydar]

Stunning shot Peter. A great deep field view as well.

Ray

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Peter

lovely colour and definition.....but is there something funky going on at about the 10 o'clock position from the Trifid? Stars look a bit askew.

Nonetheless, a fine image, moreso given your suburban location.

Think I mentioned it before though.....dark site, remote imaging coming soon!

cheers
Martin

[Peter Ward]

Ah, yes, that's what I get for being slack and aligning (eyeballing really) differing data sets using PS layers rather than Maxim or Pixinsight. Will fix in due course. (there is only so much you can do with the free transform tool :doh:

As for the dark site....hummm...sooo tempting. :thumbsup:

[ausastronomer]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but I am seeking some guidance here. I am asking it here because there are some knowledgeable imagers who have contributed to this thread that can probably give me an accurate answer.

I am purely a visual observer. After destroying many rolls of Kodak Ektachrome in my Olympus OM-1 on a 6" Newtonian back in the early 1980's I decided astrophotography wasn't for me and I was going to spend the rest of my astronomy days as a purely visual observer and so it has been.

Peter's image of M20 is excellent. However the stars in HN40 are "burnt out" and difficult to distinguish as a multiple star complex as such. That having been said it's probably the best I have seen so far. I have seen many other really nice amateur images of M20 over the past decade but in every case the multiple star complex HN40 is not distinguishable as a multiple star complex as such, and is basically a "bright blob".

Is this because long exposure times are required to get the required detail in the nebula complex itself which cause the 2 brighter stars in HN40 (A & B) to burn out, or become overexposed. If someone was to set up their exposures so as to properly capture HN40 as a multiple star complex (4 stars) what would happen to the image quality on the rest of the nebula?

Cheers,
John B

[Peter Ward]

The difficulty is one of blending the stars to still look natural, despite a much shorter exposure time (which will indeed resolve the group).

When you then try to match the brightness levels... noise in the shorter exposures also becomes a problem...

Lastly I did indeed try short exposures (2 minutes) to better resolve the core stars...they were still too bright!