Light and Shadow

[Paul Haese]

This is an image of two objects that are not often paired together. One is particularly bright and the other is quite dark. Hence the name.

I am not certain that the pairing looks right but it was worth a half decent try. NGC1999 is very dark but interesting and M42 is very bright and also intriguing to look at in high resolution. Processing of course was difficult and one never really knows if they are respecting the light or not. I suspect not in this image but something similar won the overall winner in 2014 at the DM awards. :shrug:

Image integration is 24.1 hours with about 9 hours in Ha. Image capture occurred at Swan Reach Imaging on one of our OOUK AG12's and ZWO6200mm.

Click here (https://paulhaese.net/M42AG12.html) for larger image.

[Peter Ward]

Very pretty.

So refreshing to see a natural colour image....seems to be a lost art these days.

Nice one :thumbsup:

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
that's so nice - how do you do it?
It's so well corrected even on a full frame 36 x 24mm
and you've nailed the collimation and guiding too.
Nice processing.



cheers
Allan

[TrevorW]

Very pretty :)

[gregbradley]

Clever framing Paul. A great range of colours, nicely processed.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Lovely image and I agree with Peter , “natural” colour is more pleasing to the eye , however we do tend to be drawn to the SHO palettes, especially early in our journey
Great work !!
Martin

[JA]

Wonderful & unique image Paul :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Dave882]

I love this pairing. Beautiful natural colours in that dust and reflection nebs. Lovely!

[AlexN]

Yep... That right there is spectacular! :)

I agree with Peter's comment on the natural colour image becoming a lost art, clearly not lost on all!

I think you did exceptionally well given the brightness of the central stars in the frame, and the very dark nebulosity to the right.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments and compliments. I don't get a lot of time to process data these days due to the work commitments at Swan Reach, but every now and then it is nice to open a data set and process something.



Thanks Allan, it took quite a few hours of going backward and forwards with this one. It was interesting to compare my DM award winning image with this one. This image appears to have a lot more colour and the processing is definitely an improvement.

This particular AG12 was very easy to setup with the collimation. The primary appears to have a good figure on it too.

In regard to guiding I have recently changed over to PHD2 with NINA. Before I was using MaximDL for capture and guiding. I have found that guiding is so much better in PHD2 than with MaximDL. However, it might be a combination of focusing in NINA (which appears more precise than Focusmax 5), guiding and the features in NINA which are infinitely better than CCDAP5. Overall I highly recommend the use of NINA despite the learning curve required. Everything can be automated so well in it. It's basically set and forget.

[Peter.M]

Nice one Paul, some of those bit around the big bright targets don't really get the airtime they deserve. I would imagine that the DR would pose significant issues with exposing this, and processing it out which you seem to have handled pretty well!



Id be shooting LRGB if it weren't for a combination of light pollution / the moon / clouds. Reality is that most people use wider field scopes, which suck for gradients, they live in the city and don't have access to dark skies, so they do what is possible, which is narrowband. Put this setup in Paul's backyard and he would be shooting SHO too.

[Peter Ward]

I've found brighter targets...particularly M42...are not too much of a LRGB challenge from my backyard in light pollution central (aka Sydney) ..Adelaide is a dark site IMHO :). ).

But, sure , SHO has its place....but the orange green palette?

Nup. Not a fan.

SII is uber red...as is Ha. OIII is teal. Mapping the three in a creative way, that preserves some of those colours, rather than following a fashion trend would certainly get my attention.

[Peter.M]

Maybe I will make a Ward edition of my next project. I have also not minded some LRGB from home, but always feel like I am wasting my time a little bit as I could invariably do better somewhere darker.

[Peter Ward]

Imaging, can be a bit like fashion, which my better half constantly reminds me is something I don't pander to at all. :lol:..but suffice to say, I don't certainly expect others to follow my fashion sense.

However for LRGB , even in LP skies the signal is there.

It's not impossible...just a heck of a lot more work to extract the minutiae.

[alpal]

Thanks Paul,
you're doing well.
I don't know NINA - I only ever used PHD and PHD2.
Has anyone ever got Adaptive Optics to work remotely?



cheers
Allan

[Craig_]

Stunner!

[Benjamin]

Gosh. That’s just wonderful. Love those intense blue stars.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks once again guys for the comments.



I believe that PHD2 has a check button to use an AO Allan. I don't know if it actually works yet but I have an AOX laying around here and might try it on a system I am working up for our Observatory.

As for NINA, it is a command programme and more. It basically orchestrates your nightly imaging and you can do other things whilst it is doing that. What I like about it is that with the advanced sequencer part of the programme if we get a weather abort it just parks and waits while the weather passes and then when the roof opens after that, NINA goes back to imaging.

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
Wow - I don't know of anyone who has got AO to work remotely.
Imagine how much better the pictures would be?
I wish you success with that.
NINA sounds great.

cheers
Allan

[petershah]

As mentioned a less conventional framing and I love the delicate brown tones you have in M42

[Joshua Bunn]

Thats wonderfull! such delicate detail and colour which has been well preserved and work well together.