m20

[Shiraz]

hi

Possibly the most beautiful object of them all. Conventional processing and not particularly deep.

Updated this image using the 1600 camera.

Thanks for looking..

Cheers Ray

higher res at
https://astrob.in/full/iy3xwk/0/?real=




250 f4 Skywatcher on eq8 with asi1600

[multiweb]

I had forgotten how good your stuff is Ray. Very high quality shot. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[alpal]

Excellent picture Ray,
it's sharp, detailed and colorful.
Some of the background looks a bit too dark.
When I checked it in Photoshop it's a bit clipped
in the dark areas at about a level of 9 out of 255 bits.
I like the dark areas to read about 20 to 26.



cheers
Allan

[Dave882]

Fantastic shot with tonnes of detail and beautiful colour!

[rustigsmed]

great to see an image from you again Ray. spectacular shot!

cheers

russ

[JA]

Hi Allan,

I too think that Ray has produced a wonderful image (BTW Hello Ray:D) : wonderfully sharp and contrasty. I would suggest that in addition to his skills , the reason for the darker darks /contrast is Ray's wonderfully dark location.

I'm always curious so I often check on LightPollutionMap for images I like and in that location, based on 2015 World Atlas data, an SQM reading of 21.7 to almost 22 is not uncommon, both in and around the township. We can both, I would suggest, dream about that level of sky brightness in Melbourne. Homebase for me in Melbourne has an SQM of 18.7 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 7) or a sky brightness of 3130 µcd/m^2 which equates to about 18 times brighter than a typical ~172µcd/m^2 darksky background). In Ray's location the sky brightness is much darker than Melbourne at ~231µcd/m^2 (~Bortle 4) and is even darker within 5km out of town(Bortle 2) at ~ 180 µcd/m^2, which is very close to a perfectly dark sky of ~172µcd/m^2 darksky background. His area is ~ 13 times darker than the Melbourne data I quoted and that's why, for the same exposure, same camera/QE and without any stretching, his "darks" will always be darker - much less light pollution.

Best
JA

[Peter Ward]

I never tire of seeing top-shelf renditions of this beautiful object :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

Hi Marc..thanks very much.



hi Allan. thanks for the advice. I had set the background so that the bulk of it was about the level that you suggest, but there is one particularly dark small region that is slightly clipped. I thought that it looked better overall with some clipping, but will go back and have another look.


thanks very much David.



G'day Russ. Thanks. Good to be posting again.



Thanks JA. no doubt about it - dark sky is an unbeatable asset. Good explanation.



Very generous of you Peter. Thanks.

thanks everyone for the comments. Regards Ray

[Startrek]

Ray ,
That’s a really nice M20
Detail and colour spot on
Well done !!
I captured some data on it last night , haven’t imaged M20 in Sydney for nearly 2 years , see how it turns out under all that Bortle 8 muck

Cheers
Martin

[Bassnut]

Wow that really pops with the bright stars and colour. You got a lot of deep OII and detail too, well done!.

[Addos]

some nice sharp colours you got both in the stars and the dso. great job!

[AdamJL]

Goodness me, that is a gold standard for this object. Beautiful!

[Retrograde]

Excellent Ray - the Hi res version is sweet!

[strongmanmike]

Hi there Ray :hi: haven't heard from you in a while..? Good to have you back.

Excellent, a most beautiful Trifid that, with superb colouring, you have showcased the subtle browns, teals, greens and the whites, as well as the usual blues, in the reflection/absorption cloud around the central magenta Ha/Hb flower, very few images of this beauty nail the balance between them all, this well, a great image.

Mike

[gregbradley]

A beautiful Trifid Ray.

The short exposure strategy strikes again!

Greg.

[Shiraz]

thanks Martin. appreciated.



thanks Fred. tried to keep it a bit on the colourful side without going overboard, so thanks for the comment.


Thanks Adam. enjoyed processing this one.


Thanks Adam. appreciated.



Yeah Pete, it only just holds together at highest res, but still ok. Thanks.



Hi Mike. Long long story. Short version is that the best I could do for a while was capture data for later processing. Thank heavens for SGPro and the EQ8 being happy to spend the odd nights doing just that.
Now starting to process the backlog and having fun finding out just what is there.

Thanks for your comments on the image. I agree that the subtle colours around the magenta are something to be careful of - I tried to do that.


Hello Greg. Thanks. short exposures and low noise cameras can do OK.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments Regards Ray

[strongmanmike]

Sounds like what I have to learn to do with my new setup :scared2:



Just had another look at the full res image, its a cracker mate, stunningly well processed. If people haven't looked at the full res version at Astrobin they should! :thumbsup:

Mike

[Shiraz]

Just had a look at your new setup. Like wow! you will probably need to go full automated?

If any use, I use SGpro in semi automated mode. set it up for one target in the east and then let it follow that till it gets 1- 2 hours past the past the meridian, when the seeing usually collapses.
Auto refocus about every 12-15 minutes (quick with cmos) and phd generally will deal with minor clouds. My jobs after setting it running on dusk are to listen for rain and to shut it all down in the morning.
I guess the point is that there are useful intermediate stages on the way to full automation.

thanks Mike. that's very generous.

[strongmanmike]

Agreed, I'll likely do it is stages, just so I don't get too freaked out :lol:



Like a really yummy plate of food, a great image really excites me :party: :screwy:

Mike

[graham.hobart]

super nice Ray. The big version is a feast and very sharp.

[codemonkey]

Great to see you back at it again, Ray. Awesome work, as usual!

[Shiraz]

Cheers Mike



Thanks very much Graham



Hi Lee. Thanks very much

Thanks folk.
Cheers Ray

[LKD]

Super image, well done

[Ryderscope]

Thanks for the opportunity to tour an excellent M20 Ray.

[marc4darkskies]

You don't realise what a beautiful image this is until you look at the full res version. Great work Ray! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

Hi Luke. Thanks very much



Hi Rodney. Thanks for your comments.


Hello Marcus. appreciate your comment and will change the link to point directly at the high res.

Thanks folks. Cheers Ray