Something quite different

[strongmanmike]

Wha? TWO COMPLETELY CLEAR AND STILL NIGHTS in a row in Newcastle? :scared:.....Woohooooooooo :thumbsup:

Not sure about most of you guys but I haven't seen an image of this bit of the Vela SNR before that wasn't a part of a much wider field view..? Heck, I don't even know the catelogue number of anything in the frame :lol:

It proved to be quite a challenge to record but I picked it not only because it is seldom imaged but because it is a lovely mix of stuff - emission nebula, refection nebula, double helix shaped flouresent shock wave, dark nebulae and some sparkling stars too.

I did do 120min of Halpha but the region proved pretty faint in Ha thus I found even this amount of data didn't really enhance the image and did little for a final LHaRGB in fact it only added noise really (longer Ha subs - I did only 10min subs - would have been better probably?) so I decided to drop it from the colour combo altogether leaving the final colour image as an LRGB mix. This was dissapointing, not to mention a waste of a few hours worth of stuffing around for a guy who is portable doh! grrrrr... but the good thing about imaging an area of faint stuff is that very little ddp is necessary to bring out the dynamic:

Smaller frame (1.6meg) to fit on your screen better
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108686111/original

Larger frame for surfing:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108687101/original

Here are some close-up crops to simulate longer FL on the more interesting sections:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108688906/original

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108689036/original

and here is the Lum + Halpha only version (I love the sentimentality of B&W :))
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108673874/original

enjoy

Mike
ps. I have a set of just released ultra low reflection Astronomiks Ha OIII SII filters coming next week...so look out! Mike will be doing green and yellow goopy images too then :thumbsup: a new set of ulta low reflection LRGB filters will follow soon after too, so hopefully those pesky little halos around stars will be a thing of the past....?

[rally]

Mike,

Lovely stuff - it really is a beautiful target - like you said it has a bit of everything.

Something to add to my list one day thats for sure.

. . . . need a password for the L+Ha though !

Cheers
Rally

[Omaroo]

Love the twisting tendrils Mike. What an amazing sight. Luvverly!

What's with the holos around the brighter stars? I'm not criticizing (how could I?) but am keen to know why they exist. Is this just a function of you having to pull a rabbit out of the hat as far as available dynamic range goes?

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Rally, link now fixed :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

Looks very nice to me Mike. Below is an alignment star map of nine panels taken with my 300mm lens. This is for the mosaic I am doing. The size is 17x11.5 degrees. Your image and the HA&O3 enhanced image centered on the Vela Pulsar are also added with RegiStar.

Do you know where you are yet? Just joking!

Bert

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks Oma-sharif-oo :P

Glad ya liked it.

Th halos are coming form the Astronomik filers (at least I am pretty sure..?). I have a set of brand new to the market low reflection Astronomiks Ha OIII SII filters on the way next week and a set of same in LRGB to follow some time after (once they are released) so I hope this will remove this issue?

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Actually I was hoping you'd do that Bert, I was going to ask but felt pretty sure you'd do it anyway :thumbsup: It really is an amzing region of the sky that and it can keep us busy for a lifetime (unless you are Rob Gendler of course...he has imaged it all in high definition colour :eyepop:)..try hard :lol:

Mike
Love you RG, just a term of enderment :P

[avandonk]

This image will give you an idea of the quality of the mosaic. So far in tif form it is 350MB+.

About 1MB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~trlee8/Combine31crbig2.jpg

Bert

[marc4darkskies]

Ah Haaa - a man who appreciates subtle beauty! A very cool image Mike! :cool: :thumbsup:

10min subs for Ha? Dreaming of owning a large aperture reflector of some kind perhaps- hmmm? ;)

Cheers, Marcus

[renormalised]

...and Rob probably did it with a lump of glass and a box brownie....and still came out with better pics than any of us could dream of!!!:eyepop::)

BTW....excellent shot, Mike:D

[h0ughy]

nice image Mike - congrats on the photonic capture session. looks a lovely piece of sky

[AlexN]

I love the simulated long F/L shots :D haha.. Nah a very fine shot mate! I am rather impressed that recently theres been a few images of really obscure targets on the forums... This is another fine example... And Although I love these obscure targets, I woke up at 3am today for work, looked up at the sky, saw scorpius and thought "Oh yeah... its Rho time!! :D." Planning to shoot yet another incredibly overshot areas after attacking M42, 3372 and 2070 :D


Well done mate.
Alex.

[bluescope]

Like the HII nebula Mike ... nice colour and detail in the dark lanes.

:thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

I'll be hangin' to see! :)

[Alchemy]

now if you can just add another 30 or so panels to finish it off:lol:

what made you target this little bit specifically , or was it just a lucky dip?

[Gama]

Again we see why you are highly respected in this field Mike.
A very good pick of the object as well, like you said, not much of these being tried.

Theo.

[strongmanmike]

Subtle beauty alright the whole Vela SNR/Gum Nebula region is just incredible. It's a nother example of something we have down here that just blows away what they have in Northern Hemisphere ala the Veil Nebula :lol:

Large say 12" say F3.8'ish maybe? ;)



He is the mozaic master that's for sure!



Yes very cathatic....I'm pretty happy to have found somewhere to image from within 45min of my home and under pretty dark skies... still a pain in the proverbial mind you to lug everything there, just a shorter trip :(



Like I said the image scale is just enough and the FOV allows capture of plenty of offerings in one frame :thumbsup: The Vela region is full of lots of stuff just gotta search it out..like the Great Barrier Reef, you've got'a know where the best spots are though ;)



Yes it makes a nice contrast with the delicate filamentarty structure oposite, that's why I went for the framing. Looks liek a bit of dust extinction too as the neb is very red/orange.



30 frames???? :eyepop:man I'm happy with just one in two nights....:sadeyes: I have a nice site now but sheesh the whole rigamarol to get out and back with all the kit is still daunting, man I need an observatory again.... :(



Thanks Theo, it's all out there just gotta get the right taxi driver to take you there :P

[lesbehrens]

wow:eyepop:

[Paul Haese]

Sweet shot there Mike. Love the balance of the shot with the SN tendrils and the nebula on the left. Very nicely done.

[Hagar]

Very nice Mike. I love the little Nebula . Could almost be a baby Trifid Nebula.

Where do you get such obscure targets?

[Bassnut]

OK, thats different, nice composition and colour on the neb part. Dunno about the halos tho.....:whistle:.

ummm, sorry, what was that.......Mike and the word "NarrowBand" in the same post :shrug:, nuh, cant be :screwy: :P.

[strongmanmike]

I thought the same thing and the interstella redening that appears to be affecting it has given it a lovely contrasting red/orange hue too.

I just surf around and look for info on areas, look at others work and get ideas, no rocket science there.

Thanks for you comments Doug :)



Fred ma man

Yes the small halos around teh bright stars seem a little more obvious on this target for some reason? Generally I don't find optical aberations like this objectional in astroimages though,as long as they aren't big and obvious, they are part of the equation in some form or another in every system. Hopefully the new ultra low reflection Astronomik filters will make a difference, particularly with the larger more diffuse halos I can get?

As for the narrow band capitulation..?..weeeeell I had to give in eventually huh? :lol: besides, I could have used an OIII filter on this last target rather than the Ha as there was very little Ha in the filaments in this region, much more OIII.

Cheers

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Nice image Mike.

Some stars have the odd diagonal diffraction like spike running off them. I've seen similar, which proved to be a less than perfectly clean filter....maybe you are getting the same?

I would be interesting to see this field with much deeper data.;)

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes, you might be right there Peter, I'll give them all a clean when inserting my new NB filters, hopefully next week?

Yes data and more data that is the quest....:sadeyes: You guys with observatories should really appreciate'em cause without'em mega data over multiple nights is veeeeery difficult, particularly with our shorter summer evenings :(

As I said I did do 2 hrs of Ha but with just 10min subs, F7.5 and the red insensitivity of the KAI11002 chip it was way too little - pretty faint stuff that. When I did the hand of God (CG4) last year which was also very faint in Ha I did some 8hrs worth of Ha data and that was still not enough really but I found it "was" useable in that case adding some 5hrs of Lum probably helped too though?

I did incorporate it in this potential Lum image but I wasn't happy with it when doing the LHaRGB combine so I left the Ha out in the end as it wasn't really adding anything to the bright Ha bits and just added under exposed noise to the rest of the field

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/108673874/original

Thanks for your reply Peter :)

[richardo]

Lovely image there Mike!
Love the composition getting a variety of objects.. certainly makes for interesting viewing. Something for every one!

Glad you had a couple of nights.
Just sometimes you can strike it lucky.

All the best
Rich

[Garyh]

Wonderful image Mike! Composition is just perfect!:thumbsup:
I don`t know why some more parts of the Vela SNR arn`t imaged closeup?
Can find bugger all on the net except maybe some David Malin and Rob Gendler widefield shots? Nothing like you have done here but!
Verrrry nicee!
cheers Gary

[RB]

A beautiful vista there Mike, very nicely captured and composed (as always).

Now that deserves another Guinness !

:)

[strongmanmike]

Yes struck it lucky but the whole rigmarole of packing the car getting out there setting up blah blah blah in an age where mega data is a must it all seems so...?...futile...:sadeyes:



Glad you enjoyed it Gary, comments like this help with the dispondency of not having an observatory to make imaging life a bit more atractive :sadeyes:



Oh yeh now ya talking.. got no Guiness so I'll go get a Blue Tongue Lager :P

[glenc]

Thanks Mike for a very interesting image. The red nebula on the left is Gum 20 = RCW 36. (Diam 12', RA 08 59 20, dec -43 44).
It is about 95' arc-min west of lambda Vel. http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/details.py?id=25201&t=hii&s=4_p27.0xp31.0&name=RCW%2036

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot for that Glen!

That looks to be a useful resource?

Mike

[jjjnettie]

There's something for everyone this one.
Beautiful work. Thanks for posting.

[multiweb]

Truly exceptional image. Love the field colors and composition. As usual top work. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Just gorgeous Mike.

The neb on the left is one of the Gum nebulas. Not sure which one - there are 2 that are close to each other. You are not far from NGC2736 which is below that Gum nebula a small ways.

Ha in this region can be quite faint but its there in varying degrees in different parts of the area

Greg.

[Geoff45]

Nice pic Mike. The halos may be coming from the filters, but at first glance they look a bit small for that. The other possibility is that they are reflections between the ccd cover plate and the entrance window. I noticed a similar halo around zeta ori in Peter Ward's Mr Ed post. This link to the Astrodon site makes interesting reading.
(http://www.astrodon.com/articles_faq/articles_faq/press_release:391,355,49) Geoff

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Jeanette and Marc your appreciation is..?.. appreciated :P



Thnaks Greg glad you like it mate, it's..?..well?..something a bit different anyway.

Yes Geoff directed me to some info on the nebula already.

I did 12 X 10min in Ha using a 12nm Astronomik too and it was very grainy and full of under exposure noise artifacts so it wasn't very useful.



Yes I have read that before Geoff and it sounds right. Astronomiks have released a new range of low reflection narrow band filters and I will get them hopefully on Friday or early next week with a full LRGB set following as soon as they are available. This should reduce the larger halos I see around brighter stars but if it is indeed the cover slip causing the small halos close to stars then I'm not sure what I can do but live with em, besides they aren't objectionable in most images.

Mike

[Ric]

Top value Mike, I enjoyed the B&W image. I always find something special about them.

[gregbradley]

This should reduce the larger halos I see around brighter stars but if it is indeed the cover slip causing the small halos close to stars then I'm not sure what I can do but live with em, besides they aren't objectionable in most images.

Mike[/quote]

I think you are right Mike it probably is the filters and possibly they are reflecting back off of your flattener. The Apogee U16M has no cover slip and I see some reflections (not too many though) off the brighter stars sometimes that look similar to what you are getting.

You may also need to make a mask out of some black cardboard the same size of your chip and put it over the CCD window behind the shutter. That will most likely help as well. Blackening the edges of your filters with a black Texta also helps reduce stray reflections from the cut edges of the filters.

Greg.

[Jules]

Thanks for a great pic, Mike. I didn't know we had the equivalent of the Veil downunder.

It's certainly something different to try for!

BTW, I've seen pics from the 48" Schmidt at Palomar with HUGH halos... Nobody complains about those. :lol:

Julian

[renormalised]

Done by professionals....that's how it's supposed to look!!:P:D

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Julian

The Vela SNR, while perhaps over all a bit fainter than the Veil, is much more extensive and interesting as it sits in a dense molecular cloud region that spans a lot of the sky in Vela that is full of interesting colourful nebulous features and stars.

Yes the Canada France Hawaii telescope shows very strong halos too, I think from the Wynn corrector..?

Mike

[spearo]

Lovely shot Mike,
The nebula looks a bit like the Flame neb.
and a nice setting at the farm, nice green grass, hope no cows were roaming around!
frank

[strongmanmike]

Yes others, have mentioned the similarity to the Flame...

Yes those tedrils are very green, I wish my OIII filter had been here as I think it would have been more useful than the Ha was..? My Astronomiks narrow band set will arrive any day now..... Fred Vanderhaven is getting excited! :D

Mike