M16 - M17 mosaic

[AlexN]

I shot M16 and M17 separately without realising that the fields of view overlapped significantly, I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at mosaics...

Due to it being unplanned, the images were off by about 20% of the frame vertically, but the camera rotation did not change between images, and there was perhaps 35% overlap horizontally.

Panels: 2

M16 data
90x180s June 16, 2024
120x180s June 17, 2024.

M17 data.
60x180s July 15, 2024
150x180s July 16, 2024

Total Integration: 210x3min subs per panel (21hrs total)
Calibration: 30 darks used.

Drizzled 2x as my pixel scale is 3.05"/px

Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop

Askar 65PHQ + 0.75x Reducer
Askar D1 6nm Ha/OIII filter
Player One Artemis C pro (IMX294) @ -20°C
Player One OAG
Player One Filter Drawer
Player One Sedna-M IMX178 guider
Avalon Instruments M-Zero mount

Pic 1: Ha Only
Astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/full/lx1sbp/B/)

Pic 2: Ha/OIII into Foraxx
Astrobin (https://www.astrobin.com/full/n8r6ef/0/)

Next time I might actually plan to shoot a mosaic and see if it works out a little easier - however i'm quite happy with this!

This would easily represent the longest integration on a 'single' image I've ever done, and by far the longest time spent processing the data.

[CoolhandJo]

Outstanding Alex. This is monumental and is both wide and deep. Congratulations

[Startrek]

Tremendous mosaic image with mind boggling Ha detail
Well done for effort alone
Your scoring some consistent clear nights up north compared to us southerners

Cheers
Martin

[CaptainCook]

Great work and good to see some interest in mosaics! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Wow :eyepop:....ok, by Jove, yes, you should be happy with that! Any suggestions or recommendations are going to be simply semantics, soooo...bah! I'll just skip that and give you one of these :prey2:

Top job

Mike

[TrevorW]

Lovely but can you post one with stars :)

[AlexN]

Thanks everyone!

Paul/Martin:
I love the fact that my rig when dithered/drizzled gets ~1.5" per pixel, and yet being a 312mm focal length means that the field of view is incredibly wide too.. it kind of the best of both worlds in that respect. Technically I can shoot m16 and m17 in a single frame, but I really prefer this wider view to give the whole scene context.

Gary:
I've always wanted to try my hand at it, but never had the confidence in my processing skills, or the field flatness of my optics. That's simply not a concern. When I was processing m17 and noticed the wing of the eagle coming out the left hand side of the frame I figured why not... I already have the data... may as well have a go!

Mike:
Coming from you Mike, that's gotta be the highest praise I could have hoped for!

Trevor:
Stars are in there, just with 6nm ha and such a wide field of view they are really really small hahaha

[TrevorW]

Sorry they are, I had to go to the full resolution image in Astrobin to pick them up :)

[Retrograde]

As I said on Astrobin, very nice Alex! :)