Waterfall nebula

[Stevec35]

It's been quite a while since I posted an image. The weather hasn't been favorable lately and other commitments have got in the way. This object is generally known as the Waterfall nebula but it's designation is HH222. It's in Orion near NGC 1999 and if I had been a little less careless with the composition I could have included NGC 1999 in the frame. The total exposure time is around 18 hours.

Cheers

Steve

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/waterfall_nebula_STXL6303_RC14.htm

[RickS]

Fantastic image, Steve :thumbsup: A rarely imaged object done to perfection.

[Peter Ward]

Again...a great capture of a rare bird.

Nicely done Steve :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi Steve,
nice picture of a rare and difficult target.

Most of the information is at the dim end of the dynamic range so
if you would have stretched the original FITS files with
NASA FITS Liberator using maximum compression of x^(1/5)
then it would have brought out the dimmer areas with more intensity.

Maybe you could have then tried a little LAB mode to increase the saturation
but I'm not sure if the image can take that without adding colour noise?

cheers
Allan

[Stevec35]

Thanks Allan. I'll look at those issues when I do my customary reprocess. Certainly the image could be improved.



Thanks Peter. First time I've imaged this in years.



Thanks Rick. I think it falls far short of perfection though.

[Atmos]

Lovely obscure target off the beaten track, nothing new there Steve ;)
Never heard nor seen it before, thanks for showing :)

[Stevec35]

Thanks Colin. I have a bit of history with it. It's one of the first really difficult objects I ever managed to image about 20 years ago. Needless to say the image from back then is nothing to write home about.

[willik]

That is a top shot
Martin

[JA]

Great job getting so close with such definition. The waterfall is very clear, :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Stevec35]

Thanks guys. There are things that can be improved but overall I'm happy with it.

[Placidus]

Excellent and rewarding work, Steve. Lovely image.

Congratulations on the deep exposure; the hours paid off.

At first we thought the waterfall was the whole thing, the entire image. It does look a bit like Niagara or Das Rheinfall. Makes a beautiful background to the real waterfall.

[multiweb]

Nice close up Steve. Very smooth yet detailled. :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Thanks guys. I've just updated the image to hopefully a better version.

[strongmanmike]

Nice one Steve, particularly from a suburban sky, always found that area quite interesting.
Mike

[Stevec35]

Thanks Mike. Yep there's a lot going on in that field.

[Paul Haese]

It's an interesting surround field too Steve. I imaged this area in wide field a few years back but did not know this particular part of the nebula had this name. You have provided a nice rendering of this target. Colour balance looks great.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Paul. I think this area looks best in narrow band or wide field. I was going to do a Hubble palette version but there is virtually no OIII emission.

I think the "waterfall nebula" name was only given about 15 years ago after the VLT took a picture of it.

[marc4darkskies]

An exquisitely subtle yet compelling image Steve. :thumbsup: Definitely off the beaten track!

[Stevec35]

Thanks Marcus. Not the most photogenic object in the sky and not really suited to a light polluted location but I was pleased with the amount of detail I recorded.

[strongmanmike]

The APO-Team have just posted a wide field shot of this area, helps put it in perspective :)

Mike

[Stevec35]

Yes I saw that image. Personally I think this thing looks best in wide field.

[RickS]

Congrats on the AAPOD, Steve!

http://www.aapodx2.com/2018/20180225.html

[Stevec35]

Thanks Rick. That's a surprise. I thought they were supposed to tell you about these things but your comment is the first I've heard about it.

[RickS]

I've seen the email arrive several hours after the image is posted, so it's probably still coming :)

[Stevec35]

Still hasn't turned up and I can't find it in my spam file. I didn't seem to get an email the last time I got one of these too.