Sandy Astrofest Triffid

[RobF]

First image from this year's AF. One of my fav's, so why not take advantage of it being nicely overhead.

LRGB 55:50:45:55 (all 5 mins subs) with some Ha mixed in with the red (3.5 hrs, 15min subs) - FSQ106 + QHY9.

Haven't tried to supress the stars - like the "sandy" look of it surrounded by all those milky way stars :)
Zoomable full size image here (https://photos.app.goo.gl/1PHmEPh1DXkoTdgE9)

(2nd image is the Ha alone for reference)

[strongmanmike]

Wow Rob, images like this remind us just how beautiful the Trifid nebula is, lovely rendering with spot on colour in both the nebula and star field, just the way it should be :thumbsup:

Mike

[Atmos]

Really nice Rob, absolutely love the star colours across the frame, that is something that gets missed a bit in some renditions as people chase the nebulosity.

[LewisM]

Oh absolutely LEAVE THE STARS ALONE! Natural is spectacular.

[multiweb]

A great shot Rob. Top shelf! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RobF]

Many thanks for the encouragement guys. Seem to find myself re-learning Pixinsight every year for AF processing, and this year realised I'd never really got maximum value from the colour calibrating processes. Milky way star backdrops used to be scary while looking after the faint fuzzy DSO of interest, but very happy how this one came out.

At this FL (530mm) decided not to over do sharpening/deconv on the Triffid dust lanes. Realisticially its more of a "context image". :)

[Nikolas]

amazing how a decent sky makes the whole image pop more

[ozstronomer]

Lovely Image Rob, looks like you still have the Pixinsight touch:)

[billdan]

That's a beautiful photo Rob, I love the wide field of view.

[RobF]

Thanks Nik - it doesn't always happen, but yes its a huge help often when processing to have a reasonably dark background and decent colour data :)



Thanks Geoff - I spent a couple of hours going down rabbit holes re-reading on a few processing tools yet again - have updated my processing workflow notes yet again. It never ends - but that's part of the fun of it all too I guess!



Thanks Bill - I was really pleased to have this one as memory of a great camp :)

[gregbradley]

A lovely image. You did a great job of the processing as well.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Nicely done Rob. The Trifid benefits from being given a bit of space to shine within the surrounding field.

[peter_4059]

Top stuff Rob. I really loke the cooours in this one.

[RobF]

Thanks Greg - Its nice when a plan comes together! :)



Thanks Rodney - I was happy how the FOV turned out for this one.



Thanks Peter. Decided early on was going to focus on getting decent data for one object in a single FOV - AND was going to process it before AF 2020 :lol:

Last time I tried mixing Ha in a neb shot the colour wasn't great, so tried to be careful and seems to have survived ok.

[Geoff45]

The contrast between the ho-hum stats and the colourful Trifid is what really makes this image pop.

[RobF]

Thanks Geoff :)

[Placidus]

The picture tells a story. There are many overlapping dark clouds, some of which are no doubt brewing new stars in their tummies. The Trifid is in full star-formation mode. Toward 2 o'clock is a mature open cluster, after it is all over. Very well composed.

As others have said, the contrast between the Trifid and the surrounds is beautifully done.

[RobF]

Thanks Mike and Trish.
I quite like this orientation versus a version rotated almost 90 degrees with same FOV some years ago. Would like to say it was talent, but in reality just chipping away collecting data hoping for the best.
Appreciate the words of encouragement and glad it appealed :)