ngc2264 from Wiruna

[multiweb]

Hi all, hope you had a good and relaxing break so far. I managed to go to Wiruna for the new moon week-end. Out of 3 nights we had two clear ones with no clouds at all so I managed a couple of hours on the monoceros area. There's a lot of nice colorful stuff in there. Some very bright and some very faint so I might complete this with Ha data later down the road. I found it challenging to process and I'm sure it will improve over time.

I also have uploaded a closeup crop 1:1 at http://www.multiweb.com.au/astro/ngc2264_c.jpg [file size: 1.7MB]

25x600s QHY8 Gain:1 Offset:60 on Celestron 5" Newtonian autoguided with PHD/ED80 on G11, captured with Nebulosity.

Thanks for looking. Comments/tips most welcome.

[mick pinner]

that is a lovely well framed image Marc, doesn't look over processed which l find very pleasing.

[Craig_L]

Nice shot Marc. I tried this a week or so ago and it was very difficult to process - so much so I didn't post it - very chocolate/red colour and noisy. I like your subtle colours> It sure does look like a Christmas Tree.

[multiweb]

Thanks Mick - glad you like it.


Thanks Craig. True it looks real "chocoletty" and very faint considering I have over 4hours in there. :rolleyes: I had to push the color saturation a bit during processing. There are a lot of dark black clouds as well on the outside. At first I thought it was black clipping but then I checked my histograms and I was well under the sky glow so this stuff is darker than the background sky. Maybe it would show up in Ha?

[RB]

Very nice shot Marc !
Pinpoint stars and nice colours.


I agree.

:thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Yes very nicely done and well framed Marc
Very enjoyable to view :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Thanks Gary. Framing was easy. I centered on the bright star in the middle. As it's around mag 5 I can view it to align on short 1s frames and it's pretty central so I had no problen with the meridian flip. The nebulosity is evenly spread all around so if you guys want to image it just watch out for that star. :)


Thanks Andrew. Yeah focus is nice with the new GSO. Much easier and less "clunky". ;)

[jase]

Good job Marc. You've portrayed the colours of the region exceptionally well. Feel you need to back off the sharpening a little. Other than that, very nice work. Well done.

[multiweb]

Thanks Jase. I tried to keep the stars soft but I had a real long way to bring out any nebulosity from the original.

[Martin Pugh]

I like it Marc, well done.

There is a lot going on in that region...did you see Jay's APOD of this region a few days ago? Stunning wasnt it?

I am presently working on a Cone Nebula myself and hope to post that up in a day or two.

nice work.

cheers
Martin

[multiweb]

Thanks Martin. Sure did. The APOD was amazing. That's what prompted me to chase that object. It was quite hard to image and process though. J.Gabany made it look too easy ... :)

[Matty P]

Very nice image Marc. Doesn't look over processed and there is a lot of really nice details showing. I love the colours you have brought out.

Well done. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Thanks Matt. I spent a fair bit of time in processing it. Glad you liked it. :thumbsup:

[atalas]

Nice work again dude ! very attractive .

[multiweb]

Thanks mate. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Hi Marc,

This is a real beauty.

Your image has some gradients in it. I used Gradient Xterminator, a Noel Carboni "increase star colour" action in Photoshop and a tad of levels and colour balance and the gradient was removed and the colour saturation was increased a lot.

I have found that despite imaging from a dark site gradients can still occur.

Exactly why I think varies. High cloud for one, moon, even perhaps a bit of light from a computer screen or a torch or flashing LEDs perhaps (although less likely).

If you want a copy of my subtle reprocess let me know and I can email it or post it which I don't want to do without your permission.

Greg.

[multiweb]

For sure Greg. Post it and let us know what you did so everybody can learn from it. Thanks. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Hi Marc,

Here it is:

http://www.pbase.com/image/107858049

Looking at it again I thought it might stand a bit of contrast increase.

What I did was:

1. Gradient Xterminator (2 runs)
2. slide black point a bit to the right as the histogram had shifted to the right and this got rid of some noise
3. 2 runs through on Noel Carboni's "increase star colour".
4. Increased saturation a bit
5. colour balance a tad increasing red in the highlights

that's it. Total time spent - about 3 minutes.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

That's a very nice shot Marc! Great job!

Cheers, Marcus

[multiweb]

Thanks for the reprocess and the tips Greg. I'll have a play with it.:thumbsup:


Thanks for the feedback Marcus. :)