Apus Flux Nebulosity

[RobF]

No, not the flux capacitor, this is the faint fuzzy stuff near the south celestial pole, with some distant galaxies in the field as well. Saw this area in a David Malin book years ago and have always loved it. Had opportunity to shoot a 2 frame mosaic from Leyburn last weekend. Struggled bit with moisture in the air and fog early morning, but managed to get about 4 hrs of decent data for each frame - approx 8 hours total. (FSQ106ED/QHY247C/HEQ5Pro)

Zoomable larger image available here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ynTihGjfYs7jXFJv9

[muletopia]

Hello Rob,
That is the most interesting picture I have seen for some time. Well defined structure and well resolved galaxies. I like it.
Chris

[peter_4059]

Super image Rob. Nice to see something new.

[AlexN]

stunning composition! looks magnificent!

[strongmanmike]

Great bit of Leyburn work there Rob, I love this dusty nebula, nicely framed too, excellent :thumbsup:

Has a special place (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/sarahs_nebula) in my heart too :sadeyes: :)

Mike

[RobF]

Thanks Chris, Peter, Alex for the encouragement - really glad you enjoyed it :)

[RobF]

So sorry for your family's loss Mike. Must be hard to see this region without wondering what might have been. Cheers to Sarah :( :(

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Mate, I've seen quite a few versions of Sarah's nebula, since doing mine for her but I sent your image to my sister and she loved it too :thumbsup: :)

Mike

[RobF]

:) :sadeyes:

[pmrid]

Hi Rob,
Wow. Great image of something very different and, for me at least, entirely new.
What filters etc did you use Rob?

[RobF]

Hi Peter - it was a one shot colour (QHY247C) - which I was extremely fortunate to make off with from the Astrofest 2022 raffle :D
(super thanks to Testar for supporting AF too!). Its been interesting comparing it against the trusty old QHY9 - smaller pixels is nice on the Tak, it does seem bit easier to get nice star colour balance, very similar sensitivity (larger %QE on the more modern sensor, but then reduced back similar to QHY9 by bayer matrix), slightly larger and wider FOV which again feels a bit more "modern".

Actually its great to hear from you. First time ever I had a go at this one was actually 10Chain back when we all had much less gray hair :lol:
https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=75667&highlight=apus

[peeb61]

Great capture Rob! Love it...What filters did you use....Just curious.

[RobF]

Hi Paul, no filters. I probably should have at least a lum filter in the train to cut down star bloat in UV, but haven't got around to "fixing" things while its working ok. This was a one shot colour camera (QHY247c) from very dark rural skies (and lots of data).

My understanding is this "galactic cirrus" is off away from the central plane of our galaxy, so really only "lit" but combined indirect light of stars in our galaxy rather than any nearby stars as is normal for normal reflection (or emission) nebs. Mike has a good write up on Sarah's neb page above if you want look that up too.

And plenty of torturing data in processing (PixInsight) to emphasise the dust without messing up stars, colour etc - that's half the fun :)

[ozstronomer]

Hi Rob

Fantastic image! Very interesting FOV, the IFN really leaps out

Were you able to do all the processing in pixinsight?

Geoff

[RobF]

Hi Geoff :)

Yes, I've been a PI convert so long would probably do more harm than good to try and process outside nowadays.

I've been digging back through the archives recently updating notes from early years. Looking at some of my older 8" Newt stuff, realised how much vignetting used to put up with. It really helps to have dark skies from the get go (less chance of gradients, minimal background sky glow), and nice flat field (I'm lucky with APS-C sensor on the FSQ, but good flats on any OTA should allow same). I've pushed this data hard to bring out the dust, but things like the "Dark Doodad" and R Corona Australis clouds probably bit easier to show dust with less hours.

p.s. I'm still jealous of your blue horsehead 135mm lens shot from AF years ago - putting more effort into assembling (hopefully) decent widefield lens rig to run alongside the refractor.

[Spookyer]

Well done Rob.

[RobF]

Thanks Brett :)

[AG Hybrid]

What a fantastic image. I also looked up that galaxy hidden in the second picture. Its a fabulous text book grand-spiral galaxy.

[RobF]

Thanks Adrian. It does get you thinking when you realise what those "little swirls" amongst the dust actually represent so much further away.