NGC 6334 - Cat's Paw

[AdamJL]

Hi all

First light on this target for me. Struggled to get any decent O3 data to come through, but got there in the end. This was way harder to process than I was expecting!

47 x 240 for Ha and SII
45 x 240 for O3
QHY268M, Antlia 3nm 36mm filters, EQ6-R, Esprit 120 + 1x

Taken during full moon this month near Jervis Bay.

Larger images below:
Astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/ayjee4/)
Smugmug (https://adamlawler.smugmug.com/Astrophotography/Deep-Sky-Objects/i-jdkh3Tr/A)

[Stephane]

Hi Adam, great image of the Cat’s Paw. I really like the colours you managed to get. I also like the less bright look. I tried this one not long ago with my colour camera and L-Extreme filter. When I separated the channels, I was also surprised to note how little oxygen there was. You’ve brought it out very nicely. Well done.

Stéphane

[AdamJL]

Hi Stéphane

Thanks for the kind words. Indeed, there's so little O3 in this object, I was surprised. Here's a screen grab of the O3 stack without stars. It's not that bright either.
Ha though, is everywhere!

For the darker nature of this shot, I wanted it to be a bit brighter, but just couldn't do it and get any decent colour without it turning into a noisy mess. So I had to drop the luminosity down a bit in the end.

[Addos]

Nice one! You got some real nice detail in the POI, and did a great job getting natural looking star colours out of nb data!

Can confirm from my own experience - not much Oiii to be had on this one. Finding that with quite a few of the Milky Way core nebs. If you want those deeper blues in the scant Oiii regions that do come through recommend blending non-linear images, and getting flagrant with pre-blend curve adjustments on that chan.

If I could offer a small bit of unsolicited advice? You got a fantastic setup that will deliver really nicely contrasted, low noise images. Don't be afraid to brighten the background / not cut the blacks as aggressively and bring out the faint details on the edges and maintain the smaller graduations in shading in the dark nebula regions. On the noise front - cant recommend Russel Croman's NoiseXTermimator enough. Simpler and more effective than TGV/MLT/Mure IMO. You can also control noise to a degree by using your Ha channel as a synthetic lum.

[AdamJL]

Cheers Adam

Funny you say that. I did use NoiseX on this, and it was good. But I stretched this thing and did curves adjustments so many times, NoiseX just struggled to keep up. I probably worked this image easily 20 times. There are some versions with much more bright surrounding nebula as you suggested, but I chucked them out. The Ha picked it all up; there's bucketloads of the stuff about, but the colours just looked all wrong :(

When I get on top of the colours for this one, I'll take another look at bringing them through because there's quite a lot of nebulosity that the camera picked up.

edit: but yeah, I was actually really chuffed with the star colour. Found a new technique for that one :) Will be doing it on as many of my NB images as possible now.

[Craig_]

A very nice result!

[AdamJL]

Thanks Craig!

[strongmanmike]

Wow Adam, looks like an opal, or even a bunch of opals, heck, an entire vein of the stuff :eyepop: or maybe a thin sliver of mineral, under the microscope

Interesting take on a perennial favourite :)

Mike

[Dilsh]

Very nice Adam. Love the detail! Also struggled with O2 on this one. I think you have done an amazing work! Thanks for sharing.

[Startrek]

Adam,
Excellent result on a difficult dim target during a full moon
Colours and detail are spot on and nicely processed
I bet your enjoying the shift to Mono imaging
I get my new Astro budget next year from the minister of finance ( misses ) so I’ve got my eye on a 2600MM and a full set of Chroma filters. Still really enjoying the 2600MC after 2 years

Cheers
Martin

[AdamJL]

Wow, sorry folks. I missed all of these replies!



Ha, thanks Mike. Yes an opal is a good call!! Didn't think of that.



Ah, cheers Dilsh :) Yes it's a tough target. Won't be shooting it again anytime soon!



Cheers Martin. Can't wait to see what you can cook up with mono.
I'm enjoying it, and whilst it does give me many new alternative ways to present an image, be prepared for many extra things to be frustrated about in this hobby! Gosh, I almost miss the simplicity and lack of issues (relatively) of OSC. Probably why I still haven't sold the 2600MC!