NGC 456 in SMC added HaRGB version

[strongmanmike]

I had collected some data on this almost exactly a year ago and never completed it, so with a 3/4 Moon smack in the middle of Aquarius on Sun night...there weren't much else to shoot so I thought meah, I'll grab some more on it. Not the best to shoot OIII with so much Moon but meah...hear ya go :)

It was surprisingly faint actually but hopefully the subtle approach worked..? :question:

Anyway, here is a SIIHaOIII narrowband verison with some RGB for the stars

BTW note the really faint Ha bubble lower left, thought that was perdy cool :)

NGC 456 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166317964/original)

HaRGB (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166361690/original) version

Mike

[Andy01]

Looking good Mike - love the framing and composition. :painting:

Not sure about the colour palatte for my taste though, someone once said "blue & green should never be seen without a colour in between..."

But the RGB stars give it some colour balance, colour palatte is highly subjective and rules are meant to be broken so hey, well done!:thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Interesting target Mike, I do not recall seeing it before. As always, very well processed :thumbsup: and perhaps a bit different from your usual targets :question:

P.S. Your images frequently make me think of getting a fast Newton...

[RickS]

Nice work on the "dangly bits" Mike :lol: It's good to see an unusual subject as the main attraction and I like the offbeat colouring as well.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Placidus]

We like that a lot, Mike.

We had a go at this a long time ago (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-bwDMD8J/0/7dd5bde9/O/Mermaid%27s%20Pantry%2C%20NGC%20456 .jpg) before we mended our rotten ways. Your use of RGB stars and your processing makes your version clean and pleasing. We had no idea about dithering between frames, so we had a lot of tiny defects that you've avoided.

We called it the Mermaid's Kitchen. There is a giant blue strawberry at six o'clock. Immediately toward top right of the strawberry is a jellyfish. Presumably mermaids eat them. You've got the finest structures in the jellyfish beautifully! Up toward two o'clock is the head of a dolphin. The reclining mermaid is herself only hinted at by a pair of curvy bits with impressive cleavage in the centre, surrounded at by a diaphanous gown.

It was fun comparing the two versions, seeing that we agree on the undelying nebulosity but have presented it in different ways.

[Atmos]

That’s really nice Mike. I’ve done it in RGB and Ha but not OIII or SII. It looks reasonably devoid of SII.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers everyone :thumbsup:

Wasn't overly happy with this really, couldn't work with the data too well. I had rotated the camera since the previous imaging session a year ago and in the meantime I had a lap top repair earlier this year including a new hard drive, so the original files weren't in the laptop when I started out at the observatory, so I didn't have a reference frame to match up with...sooo I just guessed the framing based on memory. Needless to say my guess was off by a bit and this resulted in serious cropping being necessary, hence the bubble at the bottom left being cut in half :doh:

.... but meah, an image is an image :)

Andy, if you map SII to Red, Ha to green and OIII to Blue...this is what ya get, one must heavily tweek and remix it to change it to something else (which is fine to do BTW). The Red SII was just in the edges of the nebulosity, hence it is mustard in those bits, the OIII is confined mostly to the big bright patches, hence they are quite Blue and of course Ha is very dominant so plenty of green mixed in the rest of the image. This resulted in what I think is still a mix of more than just green and blue as there are turquoise and mustard hues in places too...but yes green and blue are the dominant colours/hues ....that's just da Physics I guess? :)

I might do an Ha RGB version yet too :question: :thumbsup:

Mike and Trish, yeah I remember yours, t'was a good'un despite your Learner plates :D I remembered that faint bubble in your shot too but as I said above, errors in my reframing over the space of a year meant it got cut off :sadeyes:....

Mike

[Shiraz]

That's an interesting structure - haven't seen it before.

Really neat image as is - should also look great as an Ha RGB.

[gregbradley]

Interesting object. This different to NGC346 right? (they look similar but I am not sure - http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/161910491/large).

These SMC and LMC nebula make very interesting imaging targets and are rarely imaged. They really suit the SX694.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Ray, you know me, like to image less well known targets most of the time :) I'll have a crack at an HaRGB and see how it looks :)



Hmmm? should you have gone to specsavers Greg..? :question: :lol:...seriously, I guess there is some vague similarity but yes NGC 456 is different to NGC 346 and I recon probably a little more interesting appearence...?

I agree shooting the various nebs in these close galaxies, especially in the LMC, is something that could keep me busy for the rest of my days :)

Mike

[atalas]

Hey good object ain't It....not sure If the strong colour is hiding the fine structure though Mike....or maybe not.

Looks good anyway:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Louie, nah I think it is just not a fine structure rich object :shrug: not much structure in M&T's shot (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-bwDMD8J/0/7dd5bde9/O/Mermaid%27s%20Pantry%2C%20NGC%20456 .jpg) with the 20" Planewave either. It's certainly faint though...I guess it is 200,000 light years away :lol:

Mike

[peter_4059]

Interesting object and nice capture Mike.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Pete, not imaged very often this one :)

Mike

[alpal]

Nice pic Mike,
I had to look at Stellarium to see where it was -
way over on the edge of the SMC -
the opposite side from Tuc 47.
Did you try any other color mapping?

cheers
Allan

[Ryderscope]

''Tis a good rendition of this object. The SHO palette fits the bill.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Al and Rod just added an HaRGB version

Mike

[strongmanmike]

I've now added a more natural colour HaRGB (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166361690/original) version

Mike

[traveller]

I like the image, it’s quite a “ballsy” shot :lol:
Bo

[rustigsmed]

nice one Mike!
Both versions look great.

I imaged this a while ago too, narrowband with a warm DSLR ... :screwy:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80336656@N07/21163199634/in/dateposted-public/
no matter what i did i couldn't pull the fainter stuff above the noise.

Cheers

Russ

[atalas]

Looks good in both I recon :thumbsup: I lean towards natural colour for my taste.

[Andy01]

Looks great in HaRGB Mike - well done :)

[strongmanmike]

Ah don't be such a dick Bo :P...like triangles in the stars, can a penus, be found in all pareidolia :question:



Yeah it's quite a faint bugger actually, so not surprised you had such difficulty Russ



Yeah me too Louie



Thanks Andy

[Ryderscope]

Ok, now I can't decide which one I like best :confused2:

[strongmanmike]

Ah well Rod...just spread the luv :love:

ha ha me neither...but perhaps lean toward the vibrant coloured stars in the HaRGB version...?

[marc4darkskies]

Mmmmm ... natural colour! <sigh> All is good with the world again! ;) Lovely shot Mike.

[strongmanmike]

Ah you NB Newbee :lol:....but yes, out if the two I also prefer the HaRGB version :)

Mike

[Stevec35]

Nice shot of one of my favourite areas of the SMC Mike. I've imaged this a few times over the years. I'm surprised it isn't better known.

Cheers

Steve

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Steve, apart from the gonad area...its surprisingly faint, so that probable doesnt help....