Flaming Galah! (My first SHO)

[Stephane]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a ZWO2600MM pro with 36mm Antlia filters (LRGB & 4.5nm SHO). I've been really excited to try my first ever Hubble palette and hope I've done it justice on this image. I wasn't satisfied with the corner stars, so I used the 2600MC for the colour stars added back in using Pixelmath ~((~Starless)*(~Stars)). This greatly improved star colour and star shape in the corners. BlurXterminator did a nice job fixing star shapes and sharpened some of the nebulosity quite nicely too - better than what I could previously achieve using my traditional (and clumsy) deconvolution method.

Captured with the GT71 as the Newtonian is still not ready.

Comments welcome.

Bigger version & acquisition details here (https://www.astrobin.com/4e5d9t/).

Clear skies,
Stéphane

[Dave882]

Congratulations Stephane that’s a wonderful shot. it’s really stunning in that colour pallet! I’m surprised you had dramas with the MM but the MC was fine…I assumed it’s would be identical except for the sensor. Sensor tilt perhaps?

[Stephane]

Thanks Dave! It’s probably a backfocus issue combined with some tilt perhaps from the filter wheel. I’ve spent so much time trying to fix it and can’t get it even marginally better.

Next clear night, I might temporarily replace the filter wheel with an appropriate spacer to know for sure whether it’s the wheel or not.

[Startrek]

Stephane,
Lovely image and beautifully processed
You certainly poured some time into this capture and it has repaid you with some stunning detail and structure
Colour is always subjective but I really like it
Well done !!
I’m still going to stick with my 2600MC for the moment ( mono temporarily on hold ) I want to get some more hours under my belt with the 10” in my Dome first as it has so much light grab
Weather has been typically summer , clear night few and far between

Best always
Martin

[strongmanmike]

To be honest, I am getting a bit bamboozled by all this new fangled sharpening/noise reduction hiting the imaging airwaves :question: and I'm unsure of how much of it is really smoke and mirror black magic :question:...buuut, hey, that aside, it looks bloody excellent :thumbsup:

Mike

[oska]

Fantastic shot Stephane, congrats.

[Dilsh]

Hey Stephane,

Amazing detail and great choice of colour pallette. I am a massive fan of Antlia as well. Really like their product.

Clear skies,

Dilshan

[Stephane]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Martin, thank you. It’s been a very fun capture, and I might even continue getting a bit of time with it. Enjoy every minute with your 10” scope in the dome. I’m sure it’ll shoot some great images with the MM when the time us right.

Mike, thanks for the compliment. True, a lot has changed in recent times and it’s good to pause and think about these things. Personally, if a process is performing calculations to, say, map a point spread function to what a star should look like, I’m all for it. The process is trying to undo the effects from the atmosphere just as how my flat frame calibration is trying to undo vignetting caused by my camera (okay, probably quite an unfair comparison…!). Anything in addition to the math is, I guess, more art and less science.

John, I appreciate that, thanks.

Dilshan, thanks, I really like these colours. While doing my research, I found that Antlia offered me best the best quality versus price in my price range. Too early to say still, but so far I’m not disappointed.

[Nikolas]

That's a great image mate nicely captured and a great orientation

[strongmanmike]

I feel the uncertainty or "smoke and mirrors" effect, is mostly in the "look" I see showing up in images of, bright nebulae, rather than galaxies for instance. I think it is much easier to discern what is real detail in a galaxy image and what is not, at least for me, compared to say, a wide field shot of a much brighter nebula. It is easy to see the processing artifacts in the detail of a galaxy they are much less forgiving in this sense I think, probably due to the longer focal length/finer image scale generally used on such targets? Artificially induced or software filter induced, exaggerated filigree features/detail in a galaxy image are easy to spot but tend to blend into believability in an image of a bright nebula, especially wide field shots, imparting a sharper but questionable/doubtful "look"...all interesting stuff really :confuse3:

Mike

[AdamJL]

Good stuff, Stéphane.
I like the colour combo! Green when done right looks great in an image.

[Andy01]

That's a very pleasing colour palette for your rendition of the cosmic parrot. To my eye the rgb star colours are a bit subtle, but overall it's a great result for your first NB image, well done! :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

A really beautiful veil-like drifting quality to this image. Framing is lovely. I wonder what that bright bit in the bottom right is?

[telecasterguru]

Nicely done. I like the colours.

[Stephane]

Nik, thanks for the nice comment mate.

Mike, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Definitely something to think about and explore further.

Adam, I do like a bit of green which I know isn’t always popular, but I do wonder whether I could have slightly reduced it further on this image?

Andy, I appreciate your comment on star colour. True, I went through the effort of getting those broadband stars, I might as well make better use of them. Always feel free to offer advice. Love your images.

Ben, I also wonder. This nebula is full of intriguing things. James Lamb recently released a video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LX6t8V8hcEo) on the seagull nebula where he talks about the stellar bow shocks which I found quite interesting. But nothing on that bright part.

Frank, much appreciated.

[Saturn488]

Awesome! Love the detail captured.

[Retrograde]

I haven't been on here much lately & missed this when it was first posted but it's beautifully deep & nicely processed. Top stuff!