M17 SHO - Fire and Ice

[Benjamin]

M17 SHO. I managed to get more data last night (now suffering for it - wrecked!). Went form 2.75 hours to 6.75 hours. Could pull a lot more background, although some of this was cropped for framing purposes. Perhaps a little over the top, but loved a suggestion from another forum suggesting some kind of battle between Fire and Ice. Same gear as previous image.

ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro (Gain 200, -10º)
Skywatcher 8" f4 Newtonian
Skywatcher EQ6-R
Ha 5nm 51x180s, [OIII] 3nm 42x180s, [SII] 3nm 42x180s
Processing in Pixinsight
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/fttyg6/0/

[multiweb]

Top shelf Ben. One for the poolroom. Love the details and contrast. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Thanks Marc. Probably should get a pool room!

[PKay]

Yeh Nice one Ben, lots of contrast and drama portrayed :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Thanks Peter. The core of M17 seems to requires some pulling out, although I always feel like if it’s too dim it doesn’t really seem like M17 anymore (that big “tick” in the sky).

[gregbradley]

Sensational Ben. Love the processing and the detail is outstanding.

One tiny comment. The stars seem to have a relatively sharp boundary. I thought stars brightness is a bell curve and a slightly fuzzy border. That border seems a bit cut off. Did you use a mask to allow the stars to shine through? Perhaps it should be feathered a bit more if so so not such a sharp outline.

Greg.

[Benjamin]

Ah yes. They have become a bit flat. I had issues with the SII stars being too bloated (from lifting that channel I think) so did some star reduction on the linear SII. Then I had some issues with matching the Deconvolved stars from a separate luminance channel with the colour image (dark rings). So basically I think star reduction might have got a bit in the way! The large image on Astrobin also clips the stars a bit, where as the full resolution gives the stars a better profile (I think?)

[rustigsmed]

Looks great Benjamin - can be a boring monochromatic part of the sky you’ve livened it up!

[Benjamin]

Cheers Russel. I’ve never had much luck getting this nicely in LRGB (integration time and LP perhaps to blame) so was happy to get something a bit more vivid.

[Andy01]

Great image and +1 what Greg said ^ about the stars. :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Righto! I think I’ll try a full starless version and then add to that the Luminance (with stars), so that I have only one star profile (not many layered star profiles) and then use a decent star mask to blend back some colour.

[Benjamin]

Here is a go at a reprocess using tone maps. Think the stars are a bit better?

https://www.astrobin.com/full/fttyg6/F/?mod=&real=

[Andy01]

Only on my phone, but looks much better already!
Will have a proper look tmrw. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

That looks better. Love the colour scheme. This is all done in PI?

Your blues are particularly good.

Greg.

[Benjamin]

Thanks Greg. Yep, all done in PixInsight, except for cropping which I find easier to do in iPhoto. There is a colour mask script in PI that is great for focusing on particular colours. I use this in a very broad limited way to boost things a little (like blue).

[peter_4059]

Great stuff Ben. The colours and composition look excellent. Amazing what you can do from the backyard.

[Benjamin]

Thanks Peter. Wish I could get to a dark sky more often; the contrast is so much better, even with narrowband. I do like the challenge of setting up and pulling these things from the Brisvegas sky though :-)

[PKay]

Image Of The Day!

Another great example of the world class skill right here at IIS.

Congrads Ben :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Thanks Peter. I should be a bit more active here too! We are all lucky to have platforms like ISS to share work and learn from others experience. In this case Andy and Greg offered some excellent criticisms so I’m very grateful for that :-)

[Kuz]

Awesome colours there Ben .well done

[Benjamin]

Cheers Kuz.