NGC456 Nebula- deeper

[Bassnut]

Hi Guys

I went a bit longer with exposure time on this, was worth the effort I think :D

Big version here (https://fredsastro.smugmug.com/Photography/Astrophotography-1/i-MjvpGST/A)

Taken on my RCOS 10" RC Scope at f9, SBIG STXL6303E Camera and PME mount at itelescopes Siding Spring Observatory.
Processed with CCDstack, Star Tools and Photoshop. . Over 120 hrs Total exposure time with 3nm Narrowband filters. Ha, OIII and SII all 60min subs. RGB stars.

[marc4darkskies]

That's one I haven't seen before. Very interesting Fred and very nicely done! :thumbsup: With 120 hours of NB I'd expect to see some green though.:whistle:

[Bassnut]

Thnaks Marcus :thumbsup:. Every proper person uses Chrome, obviously, so I was expecting green on your image because you inexplicitly decided to exclude chrome, leaving green as the only reason to use anything else. No green here. I think you should become a proper person. Or make your images remotely suitable for viewing with Chrome.

[marc4darkskies]

I'll build a photoshop action that arbitrarily jumbles the colours in an image ... to mimic the result when viewing with chrome. I'll send it to you so you can dump chrome and use a decent browser and still have the same green ... or chartreuse experience. :P

[gregbradley]

Wow Fred, that is a superb image well worth the investment of time.

Greg.

[matlud]

Lovely image and great effort with the long integration time Fred!

[Retrograde]

Amazing depth and detail. I think Hubble would almost be jealous. :D

[pkinchington]

Very nice:thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Wow! Quite a unique and beautiful view you’ve given us there. Thanks for sharing!

[AstroViking]

Excellent image, Fred. There's a lot of detail in there, and the colours bring it all out.


But I have to say - does anyone else see a giant grasshopper / praying mantis in there?


Cheers,
V

[multiweb]

Awesome shot Fred. Very smooth. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

thanks for all the lovely comments Greg, Mathew, Pete, Peter, David, Steve and Marc :thanx:.

Going long doesn't always pan out, but this time more and more nebula appeared the more exposures I took, so I just kept going :P.

And, damn it, the days of getting away with topaz magic are gone due a fanatical woke nazi i wont mention, so NO topaz on this :P.

[alpal]

Hi Fred,
that's a great image -
I can't find a better one after a lot of searching.
Here was the closest:
https://astrodrudis.com/astrogallery/ngc-456/
but it's nowhere near as deep as your 120 hours !


cheers
Allan

[Bassnut]

thanks Allan. That ones pretty ordinary (not that I should say :P). Ive searched too, it seems no one else (amateur) has bothered to go this deep. It was a bit of a risk investing the time, but to be different these days you have to take a risk.

[alpal]

I'm glad you did.
It reminds me of Rolf Olsen and his 130 hours on NGC 5128.

https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Centaurus-A-Extreme-Deep-Field/

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

Excellent Fred!! interesting but cool processing too :thumbsup: bit deeper than my effort (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166361690/original) of a mere 6.8hrs, from a 5 years back :P

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Nice image Fred. Another long integration time from you. It's an area I have been meaning to return to image over the last few years but never seem to get there. At present I am still collecting data on NGC3923, which I ditched 50 hours (collected at Clayton Bay) recently due to it being inferior to the data I am collecting at Swan Reach.

With regard to your image the long data set would work to reduce the noise floor to not being visible, which I have found to be a problem in both the LMC and SMC. Worth the investment in my opinion. :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Thanks Mike. You need dark skies to do 1 hr subs and go this deep. Ha, that would be a snack at your new dark site :lol::thumbsup:

[JA]

That's awesome Fred.
It looks a little like a flame/s - the sky is on fire:thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Bassnut]

Thanks Paul. you also would have no problem overcoming this noise floor issue at your dark site with long exposures, we live in interesting times :thumbsup:

[PKay]

Hi Fred.

I reckon this work is a good example of what is (actually) out there.

It gives me a lot of inspiration and thank you for that.

All points for effort.

Very well done.

[Bassnut]

Thanks Peter

Ive thought about your comment. Its NB not RGB so actually is a bit tricky. RGB is a bit meaningless for emission nebula given Ha and SII is or almost outside the human visual spectrum. If actually means what a human would see then no, but colour mapped NB absolutely shows the actual structure and detail.

Edit. I now think you might have meant the depth, well, that was the plan :thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

extraordinary deep image fred.

I have been trying to find out what exactly the main features are, but have not had any success yet on WWW. Does the split between the 3 filters indicate what physics may be behind the structures? grateful for any advice. Cheers Ray

[Bassnut]

Thanks Ray!.
I haven't found much info either.
I've attached the 3 filter pics (before final processing), pretty rough and noisy, but you may be able to figure out the physics :P.
In order Ha, OIII, SII
Cheers
Fred

[Shiraz]

Thanks for that Fred. Going out on an uneducated limb, reckon the blobs may be Stromgren spheres, complete with internal shock fronts due to inhomogeneous medium. Your image goes deep enough to show the fairly sharp edges of the spheres.
Lots of closer examples, including one in Orion eg https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/30161784/v-h-ii-regions-cesr
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jpw/classes/ast622/lectures/ionized_regions.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/stromgren-spheres#:~:text=The%20Str%C3%B6mgre n%20sphere%20is%20the,(i.e.%20%E2%A 9%BE13.6%20eV).

None of which takes away from the fact that yours is a wonderful deep image.. Cheers Ray