Diving Deep into the Lagoon - With Stars!

[Dave882]

I always love finding cool stuff hidden in plain sight - and while m8 is a favourite target for many a wide filed image, I thought I'd try to dive deep into the heart of the lagoon and see what I could find. Well - turns out its full of goodies!!

This is a 2panel mosaic, processed in APP & PI. I used a couple of functions new to me: HDRMT & MLT that I found effective to enhance contrast and maintain the complex textures in those bright regions. Also very light touches of BlurEx & NoiseEx. I've obviously prioritised the bright regions in the histogram functions.

I just loved those cliffs down the bottom of the image, as well as the intricate swirls around the right core of the nebula. I did my best to bring out the 'layers' of detail in the processing, hopefully maintaining that sense of transparency .

A tiny small glitch during acquisition... (unknown to me) 3 of my 5 counterweights shifted during the meridian flip and slid all the way down to the bottom of the bar :scared:. Well, my eq8, like an absolute champ, just kept on doing its thing but understandably was struggling to guide, and as a result, stars looks awful & the alignment of my Ha & Oiii Star Chanels were off too... Aaaannd so instead of spending hours working out how to fix that I just left it starless. Kinda helps accentuate the detail anyways so not that unhappy about the whole situation

Hope you enjoy the view. As always - any comments/critique & processing suggestions are gratefully received.

Here's a bigger (much nicer) version (https://storage.googleapis.com/dso-browser.com/astrophotography/picture-a7bcb0c28b52d963893e50b7076b4bc8-original.jpg)

Details:
150x 180sec subs
Celestron OAG
C14 non edge @f7 with the Starizona reducer LF
EQ8 pro
Asi2600mc pro gain 100 (L-ULtimate Fileter)
Asi290mm / celestron OAG
ZWO EAF
ASIAIR pro / APP / PI
Binned (scaled) 60% in processing


Thanks for looking.

[gregbradley]

Wow, that's a terrific image. Loving your C14 images Dave.

Greg.

[AstroJason]

Wow yes Dave, that is incredible! Amazing amount of detail. And great your mount was able to handle that counterweight slip.

[Dave882]

Thanks Greg & Jason I’m glad you liked the pic!

[Startrek]

Dave,
Some excellent detail exposed in the core region by your mammoth rig
Colour is delightful
Shame about the CW’s slipping. I do prefer images with stars as they represent the fundamentals of all celestial objects in our Universe ( in addition to a measure of the Astrophotographers skill in keeping them round and tac sharp under varying atmospheric conditions )
Well done !!
I’m yet to image M8 from my Obs using the 10” but hope to snag it in August

Cheers
Martin
( posted from Liverpool , UK )

[Dave882]

Thanks mate yeah I do agree and may try a run of RGB this new-noon and see if I can screen them in. It’s real nice when you set up a new scope you just wanna re-shoot all of the old favourites! Looking forward to seeing more of your images when you’re back. Take care and enjoy the time away!

[strongmanmike]

Well, despite the massive off balance issue, it looks nicely detailed none the less and considering you had guiding issues to boot, damn, it would have been even better with out'em! :doh: :)

Mike

[Dennis]

Oh WOW, I wasn't expecting that!:)

Who needs Hubble or the JWST.;)

Cheers

Dennis

[Dave882]

Thanks Dennis & Mike. Was really happy with the amount of detail I was able to tease out. It was incredible to see even in the unprocessed Ha stack the texture throughout the whole image and the challenge was make sure it didn’t get lost in the colour processing/noise reduction etc. I think I was able to pull it off, and don’t think I lost tooo much detail with the technical issues.

[Dave882]

Took some RGB subs a couple of nights ago (30min of 30sec subs for each panel). Managed to do a dynamic alignment in PI and re-screen the stars into the previous version.
Think both versions have there merit - but finally feel like its a completed image now!

Larger version here. (https://storage.googleapis.com/dso-browser.com/astrophotography/picture-877da3cc4d45a2959509720d6a371687-original.jpg)

[Dennis]

Stellar image David, pun intended.;)

The “hard” details and the “soft” textures and folds in the nebulosity are amazing to look at, at this image scale and resolution.:thumbsup:

Absolutely magnificent and I prefer this over the earlier naked version, it just seems more familiar.:)

Fantastic effort in acquisition, processing, and presentation, it must have taken you many sessions and many hours.:eyepop:

Cheers

Dennis

[Dave882]

Thanks Dennis I appreciate that! Yes my main priority in processing was to try to keep that perception of depth. Those dusty regions and bok gobules were not all the same shade of grey in the raw data and if you go too hard with the decon/contrast/sharpening you can accentuate the detail but it flattens the image. I was trying to imagine how some of those features were actually beneath or on top of the others. Actually not so much data required for such a bright target but did labour over the processing quite a bit.
Cheers mate

[matlud]

Beautiful image David! Really great detail and excellent processing 👍
CS
Mat

[Dave882]

Thanks Mat I’m glad you liked it!

[markas]

Fine images! My personal preference is with stars included - but they're both splendid.
Mark

[strongmanmike]

Yeeeeah, muuuch better with stars Dave :thumbsup:

I hope people bothered to click on the image to get the full res version, very grand :)

Mike

[Dave882]

Thanks Mark & Mike yeah I’m glad I was able to finish that off and add the stars. And yes - 200kb didn’t really do this one much justice lol