Wedge tailed M16, deep SHO, now with RGB stars

[Placidus]

We've added another 13 half-hour subs in SII to our previous Eagle going back many years, to yield a total of:

Red: SII 18hrs 30 min
Green: H-alpha 4 hrs
Blue: OIII 10 hrs

BIG ONE HERE (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-rsdzLMm/0/2a5beb24/O/Z%20Eagle%20Ha%204%20OIII%2010%20SI I%2018h20.jpg)

Mixture of Aspen CG16M and FLI PL16803 cameras on 20 inch PlaneWave.

Processing was:

Deconvolution
Separate into stars and nebulosity
Stars to monochrome
Nebulosity: Balance colour, wavelet sharpen, brighten the darks
Recombine stars and nebulosity

We were particularly interested to see to what extent SII (red) was just co-localized with H-alpha (green). There are several distinct diagonal bands of thin, not-so-bright diagonal bands of SII in the bottom left corner, and the huge "pineapple donut" or "millstone" structure at top right has a thin rim which is relatively strong in SII.

(We attempted doing another night of H-alpha last night, but the half-moon was ramming straight down the barrel, and we got a Moonlight Sonata. Tonight would be even worse. So that's it for this month.)

EDIT: We now have added 90 minutes per channel of RGB stars. Technique: Separate RGB into stars and starless. Take brighter of RGB stars and starless SHO. All done using our own GoodLook. BIG ONE HERE. (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-6SV93SK/0/0a1cad8a/O/Eagle%20Ha%204%20OIII%2010%20SII%20 18h20%20plus%20RGB%20stars%201h30%2 0each.jpg)

Best,
Mike and Trish

[Paul Haese]

Huge scale Mike. Hubble palette lends itself quite well to this object. I found there was a considerable amount of SII in this field and it really added to imaging project and the eventual image produced. Thanks for the update and I look forward to seeing more.

[Slawomir]

Beautiful view of the Eagle M&T - detail is just mesmerising and colours are very well balanced. I will certainly use your benchmark image as a reference, since I have also been collecting fresh data of this target with my guidescope. Need a couple more clear moonless-ish nights to have enough to work with.

[topheart]

Well done!!
Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Always good to see a good close up Pillars...and especially the rude Greek parachutist (Con Descending) :thumbsup:

Mike

[Placidus]

Thanks Paul. Just had another look at your Eagle. The AOX produced pinpoint detail in the brights.



Thanks Suavi. Looking forward to seeing your wider field version!



Thanks Tim!



Hi, Mike! Con should descend quite quickly. Coupla days, beauudiful! :D


---

Sometimes, when we see the astonishing work that folk can produce on bright objects in no time at all using a smaller aperture and a modern CMOS camera, we wonder why we bother with the great big beast, but the one thing it is good at is detail in very faint structures. Here, the detail out toward the darkest outer parts of the image is quite pleasing, especially, in this case, in the SII, because we've thrown both lots of hours and lots of aperture at it. Found you, you evil supernova wreckage!

[Ryderscope]

A wonderful journey of data collection coalescing in a fine image :) :thumbsup:

[vlazg]

Fantastic image, detail and colour are mesmerising. Well done.
I may be a troglodyte but ccd colour in my eye seems to have more depth than cmos, probably will change soon with more development :)

[Placidus]

Thanks Rodney!



Thank you! What you say about depth is quite literally true. The ASI 1600mm for example (which we use as a guide scope) is only 12 bits deep, whereas the FLI PL16803 which we use as the main camera is 16 bits deep.

[Atmos]

Very nice looking M&T, great colour rendition and so smooth.
The only improvement to my eye would be RGB stars :)

[Placidus]

Thanks Colin. We will endeavour to capture some RGB stars. That's a bit new to us.

Question: Can one do that under moonlight, on the grounds that the stars are very bright, or does one need to wait for half-moon or even new moon, because the stars have to be presented bright enough to cover their (highly stretched) narrowband versions?

[Atmos]

Stars can be done any time. I shoot globulars during full moon as long as it’s further than 30° away. Then again, my sky brightness is that of a 3/4 to full moon anyway so I’m permanently shooting under “moon light” conditions ;)

[Peter Ward]

All I can see is a flying fish...possibly swimming toward me.

But I still like it :D

Wonderful cooked crustacean colours as well. Yum.

[LewisM]

Always looks like either someone praying or a leaping feline to me.

Nice result.

[Placidus]

Thanks Colin. Last couple nights were faultless, but we were exhausted by gardening. Tonight looks faultless too, but even more exhausted.



Thanks Peter. We do try to please.



Thanks Lewis. Since it's been mentioned, what we see:

At the top right, a giant millstone, or a pineapple ring.

Top centre: the front-on view of a huge dark eagle head, razor sharp beak, and stretched-out wings. (We get six foot wedge-tails at our place, as well as smaller Pergrine Falcons).

Centre far left: A dragon-lizard, licking the swarthy face of the dragon tamer's head.

Dead centre:

The Finger Family: Pappa Finger (with evaporative gaseous globule sprouting electric blue hair from the head), hugging Mamma Finger, and Little Baby Thigh Boot (dripping water for some reason. Amniotic fluid, perhaps). Pappa Finger's second segment shows the very clear face of a gargoyle, facing to the right. It is unmistakeable and uncontroversial.

Just lower right of centre: the Reluctant Parachutist. The parachute has failed to open, and the parachutist (seen side on) is saying his prayers. It won't help.

Lower centre: A scene from the Gates of Hell perhaps, with molten lava, bats, demons, the full works.

Mmm. That was a very nice glass of Armagnac.

Best,
MnT

[gregbradley]

That's a fabulous high resolution image there Mike.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Thanks Greg :)

[marc4darkskies]

Lovely work M&T - as usual. A pleasure to view at full res and the full frame has that brooding look! A compelling image!

[multiweb]

Looking good Mike. Adding to it improves the final. Multi-year effort. :thumbsup:
You have only 6000 years before the pillars are blown away so you're on top of it. ;)

[Placidus]

Thanks guys. There's a definite tug between adding more data to old favourites - say trying to really nail that relativistic jet on the Hamburger - versus trying something new and on the road less traveled that's never going to be so spectacular.

[codemonkey]

A lovely M16 there guys; great details and nice colour... good to see some green in there too!

[Placidus]

Thanks Lee!

[Placidus]

HERE (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Star-Forming-Regions/i-6SV93SK/0/0a1cad8a/O/Eagle%20Ha%204%20OIII%2010%20SII%20 18h20%20plus%20RGB%20stars%201h30%2 0each.jpg)we have added 90 minutes per channel of RGB stars. 5 minute subs.

Technique: Separate the RGB image into stars and starless. We already had the starless SHO. Take the brighter of the starless SHO and the RGB stars. All done with our very own GoodLook.

[gregbradley]

That worked very well. I had some trouble trying to do this recently so I understand its a tricky procedure.

Nice stellar profiles.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Thanks very much Greg. :)

[Andy01]

That's looking good guys, well done! :D

[Placidus]

Thanks Andy. For us the HSO + RGB stars has been a mystery for 10 years. We think we've got it now. :)