NGC 2070 QHY8 during Full Moon

[Gama]

With few little nights we have now without smoke and haze in Victoria, i managed to image the Tarantula nebula during a full moon.
Still came out pretty good considering the high contrast background from the moon and some haze.

Exposure was 8.5 minutes with the QHY8, scope 14" RCX at f5. No Flats, Darks etc
Quickly processed with MaximDL and photoshop, then passed thru Noiseware, and binned 3x3.

[Dennis]

Excellent image and very I'm impressed that no darks were required, it much be a very low noise CCD.

Cheers

Dennis

[spearo]

Gama,
Well done, tracking and focus are top notch and I know what you mean by how hard it is to get any decent imaging nights these days!
I had a quick play with your image and you can get an awsome Tarantula by removing some of that background Moon haze, you probably already know this but here goes:
duplicate image, Gaussian blur max the duplicate image, select all and copy, go back to original image, paste, open a layers window and select "difference", adjust the opacity slider to 50-60 percent (to taste) and notice the background haze dissapear leaving the glorious Tarantula you imaged.
flatten the image, then do your usual levels (set dark, adjust midtones etc), a hint of curves, etc.
see if you like the outcome.

It's a great image and well worth removing the haze i think
i'd print it and display it proudly
cheers
frank

[Garyh]

Great image for a single exposure!!! can`t wait to see it imaged without moonlight!!
Cheers Gary

[Gama]

With so many ways to process images, it depends on what information you have to start with. Problem here Frank is you lose so much info from the wispy gas arms and surroundings due to the haze and glow, so i really dont like spending time processing something that isnt 100%. I will re image this on a good night, spend a good hour exposing it and then process it to the max.

[spearo]

Fair enough,
It always ends up better on a nice moonless night that's for sure
frank