NGC 1333 taken over three years

[RickS]

NGC 1333 contains a delightful mix of blue reflection nebulosity, dark mysterious dust and red Hydrogen alpha emission. It is an active region of star formation and part of the nearby (approx 1,000 light-years) Perseus OB2 molecular cloud complex. It is rich in young stellar objects (YSOs) and Herbig-Haro objects. It contains many new stars, less than a million years old, that are hidden by dust and only visible in infrared.

Big versions via Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/337856/0/

The data for this image was captured from three different telescopes between 2015 and 2018.

Jim & Linda Powell's TEC160FL scope/STXL-16200 camera: captured at DSW, Jan to Mar 2018 (21.25 hours LRGB + Ha)
DSW RCOS 14.5" team/SBIG STX-16803 camera: captured at DSW, Oct 2017 to Jan 2018 (24.5 hours LRGB)
SRO Ceravolo 300/FLI PL16803 camera: captured at SRO, Nov-Dec 2015 (7.6 hours Lum & red only)

Acquisition credit: Jim & Linda Powell, John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Leonardo Orazi, Rob Pfile, Rick Stevenson and Jerry Yesavage.
Processing credit and copyright: Rick Stevenson

Gory details...

Scope: TEC 160FL FL=1152.68mm
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STXL-16200
Filters: Astrodon
Image scale: 1.069 arcsec/pixel (Drizzled up)
Exposures: 12x900s R, 13x900 G, 17x900s B, 31x900s L, 6x1800 H (21.25 hours)

Scope: RCOS 14.5"
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STX16803
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: SBIG RGH
Image scale: 0.55 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 14x1200s R, 19x1200s G, 16x1200s B, 25x1200s L (~24.5 hours)

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Focuser: Atlas
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: Lodestar II / Tak guide scope
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel (drizzled to higher res)
Exposures: 17x1200s L, 6x1200s R (7.6 hours)

Processed with PixInsight 1.8.5, of course...

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Rick.

[alpal]

Beautiful image Rick,
It's nice to see what a collaboration with many imagers can do.

cheers
Allan

[Ryderscope]

A stunning image with a real visual impact. Dare I say a “monster” of an image :thumbsup::eyepop:

[RickS]

Thanks, Allan. It's a bit of a challenge to combine the data but worthwhile, I think!



Thanks, Rodney. It's a beast :)

[h0ughy]

oh wow that's so encapsulating. the depth and detail, a tad grainy in some spots but i can see its pushed to an inch of its life but the subtle differences are amazing

[LewisM]

:eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:

:jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

FARKME!!!!!!!!!

[alocky]

Now that's complete PI mastery right there... truly, you are 'the one' :)
Great field too - nice to see what you can get from the other hemisphere!
cheers,
Andrew.

[RickS]

Thanks, David. I tried to leave a little grit for seasoning :)



Thanks, Lewis. That's quite a reaction!



Thanks very much, Andrew. I think I'd be able to do this faster if I was a true master. I just keep beating my head against an image until I have to stop :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Great image and nice combo of data Ricki :thumbsup: really a unique look to this area huh? That dark grey is pretty cool.

Mike

[markas]

Spectacular! A real tour de force.

Mark

[graham.hobart]

Worth the wait? (or weights?!!) Just stunning Rick. I would love to see that in a big print. So much variation and colour. Reminds of a dancer spinning with a blue tutu whilst hot volcanic embers are shot off! Sort of a Hawaiian Goddess look.
Must get my pixinsight book out one day!!:eyepop:

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike. Always wanted to image this object and was quite disappointed in 2015 when we only got Lum and Red data!



Thanks, Mark.



Ta, Graham. I probably will get a large print done. I'll post a pic of it :D

[topheart]

Splendid work Rick!!
I will have to have a go at this object!!
Cheers,
Tim

[Paul Haese]

That's Noice. Cool looking object. Lovely colour and detail.

[multiweb]

Gigagood! :lol: :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Tim. You're in the right part of Australia to do it!



Thanks, Paul.



Thanks, Marc :lol:

[Placidus]

That is a most remarkable image, Rick. Beautifully processed. Oh that it were another 30 degrees further south.

[RickS]

Thanks very much, M&T! It's a shame we can't see the whole sky.

[rcheshire]

Truly magnificent...

[cometcatcher]

Mmm, that actually gets to a reasonable elevation here. Must remember to add it to the wish list if I ever get an astronomy camera. Not that I'd ever get an image like that. Fantastic image Rick and team!

[Andy01]

Like a frikkin' cosmic fireball streaking thru the heavens! that's AMAZING! :eyepop:

Think Lewis' reaction is also how I'm feeling about this one - crikey! :jawdrop:

Bravo! :clap::clap::clap:

[gregbradley]

I formally crown you processing King of Australasia!

That must've been a hell of a lot of work. Do you use Registar to get them all the same alignment or is there some routine in PI that does it?

Greg.

[John Hothersall]

That is an impressive result for a little imaged peculiar nebula with dust reflection etc.

John.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rowland.



Ta, Kevin. Look forward to yours!



Wow, thanks Andy!



Thanks, Greg. I don't think the crown would rest easy :lol: The combination part wasn't too tough. I used PI StarAlignment for the registration and GradientMergeMosaic to combine the images. The only tough part was the RCOS data which had a much hotter background and wouldn't blend nicely. I had to clip it to an elliptical mask and do some fancy feathering in PixelMath.



Thanks, John.

[Anth10]

Rick,
That's fairdinkum unreal,
Technically speaking it looks like a fox wearing a blue diamond cravat!

Seriously never seen this sort of cosmic spleandour, well done!!

Anth

[RickS]

Thanks, Anth!

[atalas]

Excellent Rick :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Louie!

[RobF]

Exquisite work Rick. Your collaborators should definitely feel they got value from that image :)

[Star Catcher]

What a great looking result from this collaboration! Well done all.
Ted

[RickS]

Thanks Rob & Ted.

[LewisM]

I keep coming back to this image.

And I keep whacking my chin. Must remember to put some padding on my computer table.

I wonder if my FSQ85 could reach this level of perfection in 4 years (of continuous imaging) :)

[RickS]

Thanks, Lewis. A four year capture with the FSQ85 would do an amazing job of the dust around 1333. I'd love to see that :thumbsup:

[Jeff]

Fascinating image Rick. Must be bushfire season up in Perseus. So much to look at in the full resolution version which is stunning.

[RickS]

Thanks, Jeff. Yep, an amazing amount of stuff happening in that field!

[strongmanmike]

Just having another look at this Rick...its a really interesting bit of sky...almost unique..? Anyway, again, very nice :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

It is a pretty special FOV, thanks Mike. Shame it doesn't have a couple of big, interacting galaxies too :)

[vlazg]

Hi Rick, I keep coming back to this image, stunning.

[alistairsam]

Thats stunningly beautiful Rick, awesome processing.

between the 20hr, 40hr, and 50hr data sets, did you see much of a difference with additional data, if so in which features?

Cheers,
Alistair

[RickS]

Thanks, George!



Thanks, Al.

The data sets from the C300 at SRO and TEC 160FL at DSW were at roughly similar image scale and provided the full FOV. They were not too different in overall SNR (17x1200s Lum for the C300 and 31x900s Lum for the TEC.) Combining them made a nice improvement but not dramatic. You can get an idea of what the TEC data by itself looks like from the image that Alberto Pisabarro created from it:

https://www.astrobin.com/339138/0/

He processed it very well but the outer areas of my version do benefit from the extra integration time added by the SRO data.

The RCOS data from DSW was from a smaller, high res FOV. It was combined 1:1 with the other data drizzled x2 and only overlaps an oval area in the centre of the image. You might be able to notice a couple of 8-pointed diffraction patterns :) The RCOS data has significantly better detail. It didn't do anything for SNR (since I dropped back the contribution from the other data in this area) but it did tighten up the central features remarkably well.

Hope that helps... I'm doing another of these images right now for M51. Perhaps I'll post some of the partial results and describe the process if people are interested. It's always a bit of an exploration. The data tells you what to do if you listen carefully ;)

Cheers,
Rick.

[Ryderscope]

Congratulations on the AAPOD (http://www.aapodx2.com/2018/20180409.html) Rick and team. Well deserved.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rodney :thumbsup: