BigToe H-alpha 7 hrs

[Placidus]

This is a seriously fun picture.

BigToe slightly exceeds our field of view, so this is a 2 panel mosaic, with about 80% overlap of the two panels. One panel is 3 hrs from last year, and the other is 4 hrs from last night. Thus most of the image has 7 hrs of data.

With north at the top, we can see a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, with the most prominent "toe" forming the head. Our turtle is dressed as a Warrior Monk, with big shoulder pads, a cassock, and a bright gladius hanging from a dark dragon-belt.

Our goal here has been to really lean on the clarity of the gladius (which also looks rather like a hollow prawn shell) and on the black (7th Dan) dragon belt, at the expense of super-faint but boring stuff in the corners.

The bright gladius (short sword) has steam coming from it, in the same way that the corresponding but much larger structure in the Horsehead does.

Another interesting feature is the small but very bright irregular blob toward 6 o'clock. Perhaps this is the piece of glowing coal normally kept in a small leather pouch, for purposes of striking the evening's fire, and it is trying to see the world. Another explanation is that the gladius has only just this moment been forged, is still glowing red hot, and is being worn a bit prematurely. These things happen.

Big one here (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-QWcLHpV/0/ea1c0fad/O/BigToe%20Ha%207%20hrs.jpg)

Field approx 30 min arc wide, North up, original image 0.55 sec arc/pixel. Aspen CG16M with 3nM Ha filter on 20 inch PlaneWave. All software by one of us.

Best,
MnT

[Geoff45]

Great stuff Mike. Having imaged this myself a short while ago I can appreciate how good this image of yours is. Great description. I enjoy reading them—always something new to learn.
Geoff

[petershah]

love the quality in this the detail is sublime

[LewisM]

Absolutely exquisite!

[Slawomir]

Beautiful!

Added to my list of objects for the next year :)

[multiweb]

Maaate! This is next level. :eyepop: Superb details. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Geoff, Peter, Lewis, Suavi, Marc,

Thanks so much for the encouragement. :hi:

Much needed at the moment, because the dome lower shutter control mechanism has gone stupid, and is trying to tear the thing to pieces. Luckily I was there at the time and nothing bad happened but it cannot be used unattended. And in the black-painted dome interior, it's a choice of pitch dark up there even with the light on, or if you open the door, freezing! No more astrophotography from us till I sort it. Got the circuit diagrams out.

:sadeyes::confused::whistle::prey:: ship2::cloudy::bashcomp::violin:

Best,
Mike

[troypiggo]

Tight and sharp - leads the eye to appreciate details we don't normally get to see. Lovely.

[Peter Ward]

Bigger than Ben Hur!

Epic! ....plus a thesaurus of synonyms.

Yep, I like this one :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Wow - one of the best Ha images I've seen for a while

Steve

[Placidus]

Thanks muchly Troy.



Thanks Peter! We so envy the sharpness that you achieve with adaptive optics and excellent processing. We were pleased with how this one came out.



Many thanks, Steve. We're much encouraged.

[RickS]

Epic, M&T! Even the little PN has lots of detail :thumbsup:

[Bart]

Wow! Very cool!

[multiweb]

You're not getting any break lately. Time to crack open that bottle of port and put your feet up. Plenty of time. The stars are not going anywhere. :thumbsup:

[Atmos]

One of the best images I’ve ever seen of this region. It is a contrast and detail that is never shown in this region, so much so that it almost looks new altogether.

[strongmanmike]

Really cool vista that Mike and Trish, some solid looking Ha there and that black meandering cosmic river is rather detailed :eyepop:...great stuff :thumbsup:

Mike

[willik]

IF you got the gear you can do any thing I think:question: it looks great the detail WOW.
Martin

[Ryderscope]

Sorry to hear about the technical problems. I'm sure that you will get it sorted quickly.

This image draws my eye to a number of features. Particularly the bright border on the left of the big toe which I'm sure will have a technical physics explanation and the bright 'shock wave' about 8 o'clock. There is a distinct dark Chinese dragon on the sole of the foot as well. Plenty of detail to wander around in.

[Placidus]

Thanks, Rick. Is the PN the bright, irregular little fellow about 80% of the way from centre toward 6 o'clock?



Thanks Bart.



Trish and I spent all day measuring voltages, measuring resistances, checking cables, comparing with the microcontroller code, getting nonsensical and non-reproducible results. Eventually we discovered the mechanical linkage between the lower shutter and the precision potentiometer was slipping unpredictably. D'oh. :shrug::mad2: It explained everything. Took 5 minutes to fix.



Cheers, Colin. That's kind.




Thanks Mike! Thrilled you like it.



Cheers, Martin. Gear fixed.



Hi, Rodney!

The naughty linkage had survived six years of 40 degree summers and -4 degree winter's nights. Just never occurred to us that it could be something so simple.

Presumably the bright edge of the big toe is where material blasted from the bright stars in the centre of the toe is smacking into the dark dust.

The Chinese Dragon is especially fine. Couldn't be anything else. It's just a dragon. :D

[Andy01]

:eyepop: WOW! How good is this image! :eyepop:

Sooooo mmuch detail - I've imaged this myself in Ha before but boy, what a difference Aperture makes!

Mike mentioned the river, which I think is the signature element of theis DSO, but have a good look at the detail in the shock front/cliff face at the head of it - crikey! :thumbsup:

Yep, a tad noisy but jeepers, that's a cracker of an image :bowdown:

[Placidus]

Thanks Andy! We're delighted that you like it.

[multiweb]

Oh well, that's a good outcome. Still have one to celebrate. :lol: :drink: