NGC 6357 & 6334 - Mike & Angie

[strongmanmike]

Caveat: This is a collaborative colour palette variation with significant input and directives from my wife Angela (ie this is how she wanted it) :thumbsup:. I plan to get some RGB at some stage, to produce one of my infamous true colour narrowband variations but until then this is the Angie-Michael version :lol:

Known as the Cats Paw and Lobster Nebula, NGC 6357 and NGC 6334 are located inside the tail of Scorpius. Usually imaged in true colour RGB, this image is a wavelength ordered emission line presentation where the narrow band SII Ha OIII data is (mostly) mapped to RGB.

NGC 6357 & 6334 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/48035139878/in/dateposted-public/) (click on image and use your cursor to pan around)

Full frame 100% res version (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/169331847)....for the pixel peepers (and those that wish to do a roll-over of a pro image to demonstrate my rookieness) Choose "original" size at the bottom of the page.

Mike

[Andy01]

Curried Lobster! Yummy 😋
Only on the phone but happy to applaud the bold colour palette!
Coincidentally I’m working the same target, so we can (with Ben) all eventually have a lobster off :D
Mmm- seafood banquet :)

[Ryderscope]

They certainly make a great pairing and particularly with the BOLD colour palette. I think that cat is about to pounce on the lobster :D. Thanks for sharing Mike.

[gregbradley]

I like it. Gee your FSQ is sharp.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha thanks guys, it's actually a bit how ya going IMO :question: but Angie wanted something blue/yellowish, I think because our bedroom is kinda that and she has thoughts to make it into something, a picture, canvas or something...meah, she showed plenty of interest in what I usually do all by myself, so I just went with it :) I don't mind the two nebs up close but the rest...is kind of a bit too arty for me...but I could see it hanging on a wall as a bit of weird art :painting:

All a bit of fun :thumbsup:

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Not bad at all. You should listen to the Missus more often.
Or spend more time in Ikea, driving Volvo's and listening to ABBA,
....as the complimentary blue/yellow colours work well.

[Benjamin]

Love it. When I first saw the bit you’d posted here I had idea no idea of the image scale (“what happened to the paw?”) and then I clicked through to the full view.... wow! Colour works for me :-)

[Placidus]

We heartily approve of collaborative efforts. :D

Like the colour too!

The wide field framing is magnificent - feels like there's a story there. A narratogenic image, not about a cat going fishing for a yabbie but about two huge space creatures floating about in the blue.

Crisp and sharp also.

Best,
MnT

[topheart]

Go Angie!!

Well done Angie.

Excellent!!

Cheers,
Tim

[multiweb]

That fov looks excellent. I like the colors a lot. Nice details too. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

He he thanks guys :thumbsup: I too love the clean sharp FOV this scope and camera gives, as I have said before it is so easy to use and get good results, I always feel at ease prior to processing. The colour palette one chooses is another story of course...:question: :lol:

Mike

[Slawomir]

Fantastic image, great colours and what a FOV!

[vlazg]

Great image , rather bold but not over the top, nice palette.
Gotta love the FSQ
Looks like a cat about to stomp on a spider

[codemonkey]

Nice one Mike and Angie! Lovely wide field.

Looking at the crop I'm not sold on the choice of colours, but when looking at the whole field with all the blue, I actually like it. I think Angie's onto something.

One (possible) quibble... up in the top right I can see some diagonal lines that remind me of the "amp glow" I get on the QHY178m... surely that's not a thing on the 16803?

[strongmanmike]

Cheers guys :thumbsup: :)

Lee, that is the rays of an out of field bright star, it only showed up in the OIII filter, no amp glow :thumbsup:

Mike

[Atmos]

It certainly has that wow factor and punch to it :)
It would look pretty good on a wall, have to say :)

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Col, like many NB images time on the eye's tends to let them grow on you :P...many NB images would look good as arbitrary wall art but it's a fine line between looking like art and looking like an astronomical image. I think if your processing can maintain a clean and crisp look, with smooth transitions between features and colours, without crunchy pushed broad stroke processing, it can still look like a genuine (gaseous) astroimage :thumbsup:

Mike

[Bart]

Gees Mike, its a lovely field although I am not sold on the colour of the nebulas. Dunno what colour the should be or how they should look, they just do not do it for me.


That is not to take away from what a great image it is though, lovely field, great framing, lots of background stuff going on and superb detail.

[strongmanmike]

Hey no problemo Bart :thumbsup: This narrowband colour palette thing is rather polarising every time, there are veeery few NB images posted that don't attract conflicting opinions on the colour...theeen throw your wife in the mix and well..all hell breaks loose :eyepop: that's another level of complexity again :lol:

As long as the essentials are nailed, as you have noted, the colour mixing seems a rather personal thing :) I do however always like to try and maintain all wavelength signals to make sure it is clear there were three filters used and not just two.....

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Colour aside, one thing that I like about this field of view is the size of it. Looking at the smaller version you see the large scale structures of dust and gas that you just don't see in wider fields of view or in close up detail. The detail is nice in the actual lobster and cats paw at full resolution though and fairly remarkable for a very large image scale.

When is the other colour version going to be posted?

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Paul...and..dunno..maybe never, my imaging brain has moved on to the next field :)

Mike