M8,M20, IC 1274-1275-4685, NGC 6559 wide field

[Hagar]

This is an area I have spent the last couple of clear nights imaging to attempt to cover more objects in the same area to add some perspective to the images.

M8 area has a few items which are imaged quite a bit like M8 Lagoon Nebula and M20 Trifid Nebula. In this case I have moved over to the side of M8 to image some of the smaller nebulous areas here.

The wide field areas were imaged with Takahashi FSQ106 ED at native F5 with a QHY8 OSC CCD while the larger images were imaged with the same rig with the Tak 1.6X extender fitted to the focuser.

Hi Res Images Large files around 2 MB.
Cropped image: http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/displayimage.php?pid=213&fullsize=1
M20 & M8: http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/displayimage.php?pid=214&fullsize=1

Hope you enjoy.

[multiweb]

Beautiful set of pics. Lovely colors and nice focus. :thumbsup:

[MrB]

Very nice.
It's shots like these that keep me inspired to get imaging.

[Hagar]

Thanks Marc. Interesting trying to compound images into a set rather than just a single.




Very flattered by your comment. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks Simon

[Kevnool]

Beautiful wide field images.
There all great.
Cheers Kev.

[Hagar]

Thanks for the nice comments Kev.
Been a while since I posted anything so I was hoping for some of the wider field gurus to pass some constructive comments as I am only new to wider field stuff. Getting hard to get a few comments these days, perhaps I have angered some of the regulars, I don't know! and probably dont really care either. I often tend to open mouth and place both feet in quite deeply. May have to look elsewhere for assistance/comment.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Very nice images Doug. The colours look good and edges of the nebulae look quite natural ! It's interesting to see some of the surrounding regions to give it extra context too. Maybe you could keep going and publish an atlas of the Milky Way - could come in handy if they ever demolish Earth to make way for a new hyperspace bypass ...

[AlexN]

Nice Doug...

All are good.. The wide field is very nice.. So many stars in the area!

[jjjnettie]

Inspirational stuff Doug.
A new take on a very familiar area.

[Hagar]

Thanks David, I like your idea but it is one mighty big job to try. Better get a bit more experience at this before taking on the mosaic task.




Thanks Alex, Lots of stars OK, sometimes I am inclined to think a few less would improve the image.



Thanks Janette, It's been a while between images then suddenly a couple of nice nights. The weather should be on the improve but then the seeing goes off a bit. Can't win.

[RB]

Doug these are beautiful, the hi res versions really bring out some nice detail.
I also like the idea of presenting a labeled version to show where everything is.

:thumbsup:

[leon]

Some nice imaging Doug, I love the widefield views, plenty of detail and spot on colors, well done indeed.

Leon

[AlexN]

Agreed... some images look awesome with a field smack bang full of stars, other fields look better if they are a little more sparse.. I take it this image is why you were inquiring about the use of the minimum filter on the forums elsewhere? If it was a wide field of the LMC or SMC the mass of stars would be very nice.. but in this image, if you can numb them down a bit using the min filter, I say go for it!

[Lester]

I like the detail you have captured in these small objects.

Very nice Doug.

[Hagar]

Thanks Andrew, Just an attempt at something diferent but it does take quite a bit of valuable time to put it all together and even just for capture.



Thanks Leon, I am really starting to enjoy how good this scope is. I can't believe how sensitive it is but how easy a bit of extranious light can stuff up an image.



Yes Alex. I'm always looking for something diferent which might improve an image and make it more visually pleasing.



Thanks Lester. This is one sensitive great telescope.

[Ric]

Lovely work Doug.

It was fantastic to view.

cheers

[Hagar]

Thanks Ric I thought it might be a bit different.

[Octane]

Doug,

I really like the first image. The scale is just right. I see what you mean by having too many stars in the image. They get in the way of the nebulas. But, hey, they're there, and, they're there to be imaged. ;)

Also, I want to know what the odd-shaped blue reflection nebula is on the right there? It's the only one not labelled in your larger image.

Also, I understand completely what you mean by getting comments on your work. It can be frustrating at the best of times. I often wonder why I bother posting my terrestrial work here. I'll wait until my web site is complete and then go spam terrestrial imaging sites. :P

Keep up the great work and inspirational images.

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

That's a beauty, Doug. I really like the first one.

What's the focal length of the setup you used?

[kinetic]

Lovely shot Doug.
So much to see in there, nicely framed!
Congrats on the POTW too :)

Steve

[TheDecepticon]

Nice shots there, Hagar! I tried my hand at IC1275 last night. Here's hoping it turns out half as good as yours.:D

[Hagar]

Hi Mike, Image of the week Hey it's my first. As for focal length, it's 830mm with the extender, 530mm without the extender and 370 with the reducer. Covers a good range but with either the reducer or extender fitted it reduces the image circle quite a bit.

Thanks

[Hagar]

Thanks H, I can understand the frustration faced by some of the newer imagers when they don't recieve comments but then again sometimes it is hard to be constructive without being or appearing to be nasty in the process. There has to be a balance in the comment and in some cases it is noticable tha some post only to gain nice cmments and don't comment on others images. I for one have an in mind list and tend to avoid their images.





Thanks Mate a bit of a shock. It's my first ever.



Good luck with it Graham, It will test you processing skills but it's worth the effort.A very rich area to iage indeed.
Thnks Mate.

[multiweb]

Congrats on the image of the week. Very well done. Good stuff. :thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Thanks Marc. I enjoyed putting this set together and look forward to better skies to do the same on something like Orion.
My first Image of the week. I'm Chuffed.

[RB]

Congrats Doug on making IOTW.

Cheers

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yeh and these days Doug they are becoming "Image of a couple of weeks" too :lol:

Nice job mate

Mike

[danielsun]

Congtratulations on making image of the week.
Beautiful images Doug.:thumbsup:


Cheers Daniel.

[Tamtarn]

Sorry we missed this post earlier Doug but as you know we were offline for a few weeks.

Great collection of some interesting widerfields around the M8 area.

Well done on image of the week :thumbsup:

We enjoyed doing our longer FL of 6559 in July and it's really nice to see your wider views to put things into perspective.

Great job :)

[iceman]

LOL I keep trying to get to it more regularly but it's defeating me atm.

Hopefully after IISAC.

[sjastro]

Very nice set of images Doug.

Steven

[Paul Haese]

Great work Doug, colour looks great in the surrounding stars and the nebula looks well processed. Nice going.

[Hagar]

Thanks Daniel



Thanks Guys, I hope Barb is getting better and David is recuperating from his nursing duties. An interesting area of sky.



Thanks Steven



Thanks Paul, I am looking at a couple of areas like this which are close to main./usual targets which offer something a little unusual. Images like these widefields certainly hone your processing skills.

Thanks again everyone.

[bluescope]

Nice collection of images Doug ... I bought a WO 66 scope just a few days before I fractured my ankle and I'm looking forward to doing some wide field stuff when I'm up and about again ... still don't know when that is going to be at this stage though.

Keep up the good work mate !

:thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Sorry to hear about your accident, I haven't seen much from you for a while and wondered if you had just stopped imaging.
Lookingforward to seeing you back on deck.
Good luck Steve
Thanks for the coments Mate.

[spacezebra]

Congrats Doug on you IOTW.

Cheers Petra d.

[meliux]

in relation to http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/albums/userpics/10001/wide-hi-res.jpg - is that the largest version you have? I'm looking for huge images - ie 1024px wide x 1536px high - so that I can set them as the background wallpaper on my vertically-spanned desktop (a monitor sitting on a shelf just above my laptop screen), without upscaling.
I've had success cropping the massive images from hubblesite, but i'd prefer to use IIS member pics if possible :)