NGC 346 in the SMC

[Dave882]

Still going through some more data from '23 while the clouds persist...

NGC346- a beautiful cluster and nebulous region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. After spotting it in some wider field shots I was keen to get up close and personal with this one - and with 8hrs and the L-Ultimate dual-band filter I think it's just enough to reveal the structure of this quite bright target, but not quite enough to extract some of the background nebulosity.

Ha & Oiii data extracted using APP and processed/combined in PI using the Foraxx utility. I was keen to experiment a little and with a slightly different approach using GHS and modifying the final output from Foraxx came up with a different rendition that I found quite interesting. I'm kinda torn between the two so thought I'd post both :)

Really missing some RGB stars but that's something I should have thought of 6 months ago when I shot this data.

Links to larger files of the two images here (https://storage.googleapis.com/dso-browser.com/astrophotography/picture-de6f88fd8fa0a20dde3d9c2321b8481d-original.tif) and here (https://storage.googleapis.com/dso-browser.com/astrophotography/picture-a03aff7afcdde796049168bc9bdc849d-original.tif).

Image Details:
480X 120sec subs (8hrs) (L-ULtimate Fileter)
Celestron OAG
C14 non edge @f7 with the Starizona reducer LF
EQ8 pro
Asi2600mc pro gain 100
Asi220mm / celestron OAG
ZWO EAF
ASIAIR pro / APP / PI / LR
Binned (scaled) 50% in processing

Comments and suggestions welcome!
Thanks for looking.

[floyd_2]

What a great choice of subject mate. I'm not sure that I've seen this before, and certainly not close up like this. Really nice detail. I especially like the second version - lots to see in there.

[TrevorW]

Nicely done Dave :)

[Startrek]

Dave,
Another cracking image from your big rig
That L Ultimate has pulled out some nice detail and colour
It’s really great your imaging all these dim buggers under heavy light polluted skies in Sydney town
Well done !!
Martin

PS: I wish I had unprocessed data from last year , it’s was a very lean year 2023 ( mainly because I was OS late May to end of July plus cloudy nights late October right through to Christmas and January too.
Hoping more clear sky time in 2024 !!

[petershah]

Beautiful shot. I especially love the colour tones you have

[Dave882]

Cheers Dean - NGC346 is certainly a very common feature of many SMC images but I guess one of the things I love about long fl astro is that there are a multitude of targets that you can really dig deep into. Thanks for your feedback on the versions too!

[Dave882]

Thanks Trevor - I wish I could have got as much star-detail in the actual cluster like in your version but it just doesn't come through in NB

[Dave882]

Thanks Martin - Yeah the L-Ultimate is fantastic and the narrowband data is so much easier to process and cleaner than broadband from the suburbs!
We had a really good patch of clear sky in winter/autumn this year so still have a bit of accumulated data that I never got round to processing - but then the last 4 or so months have been a write-off so a good chance to get into it!

[Dave882]

Thanks Peter! Yes I thought the false-colour really helped to accentuate the structure so I'm happy with that result!

[Paul Haese]

Detail on this Dave is excellent. From memory I think this is the most detailed amateur shot of this object I have seen. Well done.

[Dave882]

Cheers Paul. In the midst of the SMC, it's fun finding a few objects that reward the longer fl scopes...