A windy Trifid and M21

[strongmanmike]

Since the imaging has been rather thin this year :( even though it was a week night and windy out I thought ah bugger it and setup for a fun evening with the big ProLine and AP Starfire with the 4" field flattener fitted.

As expected not only was the wind blowing but the seeing was poor too...buuut I soldiered on anyhow with the NJP mount doing a remarkable job of staying relatively stable given the conditions and chasing that dancing intermitently bloated guide star down like a side winder missile.

I would of course like to try at least some Lum & Ha under better conditions but this will have to suffice for now

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82479275/original

Cheers

Mike

[RB]

Mike to me that is just a gorgeous shot, I'd be ecstatic to get half as good a result as this.
Especially given the conditions.
Like you say the NJP has done a remarkable job here !

My only question about the shot is, does it have a slight blue colour cast or is this the natural nebulosity surrounding the object?

[iceman]

Beautiful image, Mike. I love the cluster of hot, young blue stars.

The image looks very smooth and very sharp. Another step along the line to the next mindblowing image.

[marc4darkskies]

Nice one Mike (as always)!! And definitely not bad for poor seeing. I'm struggling to find any nights of truly good seeing. Your colour balance is spot on too - better than my version (I'm reprocessing mine at the moment).

Cheers, Marcus

[h0ughy]

Mike there seems to be a smudgy thumbmark in the middle of the image???;) :D LOL OK:P if I could I would be doing backflips:) if i got to that level, and I agree with the others - the next mindblowing image will come soon I hope....:thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Still a beautiful widefield shot of M20-21!..:thumbsup:
Color balance and saturation look spot on!!..:thumbsup:
I am amazed at the size of the field of view you get with this combo!!
Well done and in the wind too!!

[Ric]

Very very nice Mike, if that is poor conditions as you say then the perfect conditions image is really going to be something special.

Great imaging

[ballaratdragons]

and what is it your not happy about Mike?
Looks to be absolutely magic to me!

I have never seen the Black Gas so clear inside the Blue reflection Nebula before!!! Only in the Pink.

[jase]

Under the conditions you describe, I think you've captured the scene very well Mike. Well done!

[Dr Nick]

Wow, considering how bad you made the conditions sound, thats great!!! ;)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys

The conditions were indeed really quite bad and I didn't expect to be able to put together even this quality. I am pretty surprised at how this went to gether in the end actually and as some you ahve noted I toio am pretty excited at ehat might eventuate if I get a still night of good seeing :scared:

As Rocket boy quite rightly pointed out the image had a blue cast. It looked ok to me in Photoshop but when I uploaded it onto the web there was too much blue :shrug: so I went back into PS and upped the red and downed the blue a smidge but when I tried to repost last night I couldn't :shrug: I tried a few times then gave up and posted here anyway. Fortunately tonight I was able to update the image and here it is:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82479275/original

I prefer a very slight blue cast though as I believe it reflects the natural sky background more than red or green and helps make the stars sparkle a little more but this is simply preference.

Hopefully I can get out when the seeing is better and there is no wind....in fact to be honest, I am really hanging out!!! :thumbsup:

Thanks again

Mike

[strongmanmike]

I have added a close up version taken from the full frame image:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82519390/original


Seeing and wind ruined the resolution :( but I am happy with the overall "look" and colour :) Here's to still steady nights!

Mike

[tornado33]

great work there, nice natural colour balance. covers a nice big area too. In fact very similar colour to my dslr effort with 10 inch scope, shown here, 3x15mins
Refractors less affected by bad seeing as theres no central obstruction to further reduce sharpness I guess :)
Scott

[RB]

Thanks for explaining it Mike, I find that happens to me too with Photoshop sometimes, once you upload an image to the web you may get a colour shift.



I prefer a slight blue too, it does give it a nicer "fresher" look.

Once again, fantastic image Mike.

[strongmanmike]

Hi Scott

Yes your image of M20 was pretty good, I remember it :thumbsup:

The difference I see between good seeing and bad seeing nights with the Starfire is rather large actually. Here are two images of Cen A taken through the Starfire on the NJP mount with the same camera (SXV-H9) a month or so apart.

Bad seeing (6 X 2min lum):

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/82530883/original

Great seeing (6 X 5min Lum):

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/60461953/original

The bad seeing image had only DDP sharpening done to it (any more and it would have been pushing shi# up hill), while the good seeing night is the final result of complete processing but still..amazing difference huh?? :eyepop:

The seeing two nights ago for the M20/21 image was similar to the bad seeing night image above but it was heavier wind so hopfully a still & steady night will produce much better results as the above comparison illustrates but I will have a 10X larger field now :thumbsup:

Cheers

Mike

[richardo]

Crackin' image Mike,
what more can one say..... but...
damn this weather...

Had the same as you the other night....
Good sky but the ol' wind, she was a blowin' straight into the opening... made
for a few interesting subs...

Good to see you back in the saddle..
Top camera, bet your pleased:P

Cheers:thumbsup:
Rich

[strongmanmike]

Yes I have to say finally something has gone right (almost), if an image like this had taken any longer I would have gone :screwy: and it can only improve from her (hopefully)

The huge 35mm chip is great and even better is that I am seeing almost full illumination and I think the very small amount of vignetting is caused by the filters and more specifically the o-rings that hold the filters in the filter wheel - they are too thick and reduce the clear aperture of the filters to less than 45mm :(

I agree wind sucks (bowel wind too :D )

Mike

[Rigel003]

That's one fantastic image, Mike! Can't believe you're being apologetic about it. Love the wide star field and especially the delicate folds in the red nebulosity.