Vela Supernova Remnant: 38 hours mosaic!

[marco]

Dear all, here is my last picture I just finished to process. It is a four panel mosaic taken with my trusty Pentax 300mm EDIF lens covering an area of almost 140 square degrees centered in the Vela SNR region. The total exposure totaled more than 38 hours, 30 hours of which for Ha and OIII data. I have to say that it took me at least the same time to process the image.

In the link below is the relative page on my web site, there are link to a "poster" size version (about 2k x 2k pixels) and to a zoomable version to 4k x 4k pixels:

http://astrosurf.com/lorenzi/ccd/vela_HaOIIIRGB.htm

The original tiff file is about 1GB at 7000x7000 pixels!

I got quite crazy to convert the picture to the standard sRGB internet color, I hope it looks good on your monitors, on mine (wide gamut) it is quite impressive!

I hope you will like it, critics and comments are welcome :)

Clear Skies
Marco

[Paul Haese]

Super work and heaps of detail. Couple of guys I know laugh at me when I suggest imaging this area. Well you know who you are and here it is, someone has done it. Well done.

[Octane]

Goodness, gracious me.

Marco, I'm at a loss for words. :prey2:

H

[DavidU]

:jawdrop:Stunner ! a pleasure to view. cheers.

[astroron]

Marko, that is one stunning image :eyepop:
thankyou for posting:thumbsup:

[Alchemy]

Quite surprised by the amount you have revealed, never seen that much data before...... Mind you I don't know any amatuer who's gone 38 hours for ANY image before.

[jjjnettie]

Spectacular!
I'm in awe at your dedication. Inspirational stuff.
Thanks.

[danielsun]

Wow Marco , that is a stunning image!!! Vela as never seen before!!:eyepop:


Cheers Daniel.

[ChrisM]

Marco, that image is full of wonder, and I can only but begin to imagine how much effort you put into it.

Thanks, Chris

[Peter Ward]

Impressive! A superb effort!

[gregbradley]

A truly remarkable image. One of the finest of the year.

Greg.

[midnight]

Images like this are one of the reasons that keep beginners like me to stick at it and keep trying to improve & practise.

Your image is one I enjoyed gazing at for ages & your description below just sets the scene for a lovely image. Well done Marco!!

Thank you for your post - it was a pleasure to see.

Darrin...

[irwjager]

If that's not IOTW material, I don't know what is! Absolutely amazing - I would gladly hang that on my wall.

[renormalised]

Absolutely amazing piccie....the best of that remnant I've seen for quite some time. Great work:)

[TheAstroGuy]

As ALF STUART would say " Stone the flam'n crows" !!!!!! not that i've seen that show in years ;)

That is truly superb. unbelievable colours and insanely good detail, that gets me excited :)

Kindest Regards

Shane

[luigi]

Sensational!
This is probably the best Vela Remnant I've seen to date. Your processing was terrific. I also enjoyed a lot the description at your page, well done!

[troypiggo]

Holy cow! Never seen that much detail there, ever. This image deserves all of the accolades it will surely receive.

[SkyViking]

That's just absolutely superb, what a wonderful image! I have never seen such a great image of this region before, beautiful work there :)

[multiweb]

:eyepop:That is one superb shot. Very deep indeed. A lot of details I've never seen before. It's interesting to see the center of the original explosion and all the ramifications. Top shelf work. :bowdown:

[Moon]

Well done Marco - a very impressive image.
James

[avandonk]

Beautiful image Marco. It shows you cannot beat dark skies or location location location and exposure exposure exposure with a sensitive high quality sensor.

I did this area with a DSLR earlier this year thread here.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=58406

and here

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=58500&highlight=vela&page=2

There is never a correct way to show these faint objects. It depends on what detail is considered important.

I would have more stars but Fred (Bassnut) would eliminate them altogether or so the rumour goes. So your image could be about correct!

Great image as it shows what you set out to show, a very faint SNR.

Bert

[TrevorW]

Marco this is one excellent example of dedication to your work, images of this quality can only be obtained through the collection of more and more data combined with the right equipment and conditions, processing IMO really isn't that hard when all the elements needed to produce a superlative image are there.

Very well done :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

What a stunner! It's the sort of image I dream about taking.

Cheers

Steve

[Martin Pugh]

I really like this - dont think I have seen this area done in such a huge way.

Very good indeed!

cheers
Martin

[alexch]

Amazingly impressive, wow!
You should send it for an APOD so the World can see :)

Cheers,
Alex

[richardo]

An epic effort here Marco...:sunny:
As Greg said, and is definitely, one of the best images of the year!!
This lens does a lovely job, and to contemplate this whole complex is just a feat in itself, let alone going a head with actually doing it:rolleyes:.

You haven't lost anything from wide gamut(Adobe RGB) to sRGB, the colours are represented very nicely not lacking in depth at all as I can see on my 8bit 24" mon.

Top of the shelf here!

Rich

[marco]

Wow, thanks guys for your appreciations! Too many feed backs all together to thanks anyone singularly, I am really happy of your nice comments :)

I will just give some reply on specific posts, I don't know how to gather all the citations in a single reply, sorry :ashamed:

Clear skies
Marco

[marco]

Thanks Bert, I saw only now your big mosaic of the same area, nice efforts! I do agree about the processing, it is often a matter of personal taste, I tried to keep the stars as small as possible (to avoid the nebula being too suffocated) without wipe out the faintest one, not an easy job but I do believe that a nice image shall always have, first of all, a "natural" look.

Clear Skies
Marco

[Ric]

That's an amazing image Marco.

Top stuff

[marco]

Thanks Ric :)

Marco

[Garyh]

That is a awesome widefield!
One of the best I have seen of this area!

[h0ughy]

Marco,
simply breathtaking, i have seen some wonderful images from others but not on a scale like that for some time. brilliant

[Phil Hart]

WOW. :eyepop:

It's not often you look at an image these days that shows an object like you've never seen it before. This is one of those images. And one of my favourites.. both visually and photographically. Superb work.

[gregbradley]

Hi Marco,

I recently got 2 Pentax lenses for use with my FLI proline as well. What adapter did you use to attach the lens to the filter wheel?

Or are you using a FLI PDF? I think I asked this question of you before and you use a robofocus.

I have a Pentax 67 to Canon EOS adapter now (off ebay from China).
Did you use the FLI PL to Canon EOS adapter?

My only concern with that is it eats up backfocus so I may not have enough to use the PDF.

Perhaps I'll buy another one and send it to Precise Parts to get a custom job made up.

My lens is the 300mm F4 (non ED though) and a 165mm F2.8.

I believe the 45mm gives distortion. Also the 55mm F4 unless heavily stopped down.

If you see another Pentax 67 300mm F4 ED IF lens for sale can you let me know?

They're rare.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

I am rarely rendered speachless by an image but I could only murmer, dribble and make funny grunting sounds when I saw this image, I discovered that having your mouth open for long periods does make it it a little dry :P

Another fabulous PL16803 image, they are mounting up out there :thumbsup:

MIke

[marco]

Thanks Garyh!



Thanks Philip!



Hi Mike, thanks. I should have suggested you to keep a good beer can handy before opening the file :P

I love this camera, not the cheapest on the market but makes imaging faint objects a breeze!

Clear Skies
Marco

[marco]

Hi Greg, it seems you missed my last reply to this question:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=64553&referrerid=7512

I attached there some pictures of my current set up and added some notes.



With Pentax lenses for medium format you have plenty of back-focus to use the PDF. I personally went for a robofocus, since I already owned the controller, furthermore providing the EDIF has internal focusing mechanism it permitted me to have a pretty sturdy structure (see the pictures attached in my other post).

You are right, the EDIF 300 are indeed rare, also had to keep looking for almost a year before finding one unit!

Clear Skies
Marco

[Doomsayer]

I built a 67 to PDF connector this week, based on a 16mm extension tube - yet to test it however. I have been using the robofocus belt drive system for 67 lenses until now with a front supporting ring. This PDF config may not work so well for longer lenses due to the potential for flexure. So the belt drive still has its place.

Great image by the way!

guy

[astrospotter]

What a breathtaking wide image of this huge supernova on the backdrop
of faint nebula.

You guys (and gals JJJ, great Corona Australis) do such wonderful shots. I visit from time to time and there seems to always be impressive shots posted. Well done to all of you and thanks for sharing your web page with us northern astro-geeks. You have such great targets down there! :thumbsup:

The vela super nova in such a broad and tac-sharp shot is just a real treat.
Clear Skies!

[marco]

Thanks Astrospotter



Thank Guy. I agree on the risk on flexures with heavy lenses. The P67 bayonet is quite sturdy but not enough to bare the ccd camera or the lens weight depending on which side you decide to hold the weight. furthermore with large chips is very easy not to have the chip planar with the lens, introducing so defects on the borders. The great advantage of internal focus lenses is that one can mount lens and camera in a very rigid way without the problem of focusing. I personally would consider a focal length of 150/165 mm the upper limit..

I was evaluating to purchase a PDF but eventually I postponed this decision to the future. Keep us posted with your experiments on Pentax lenses on large chips, I am curious to see your results! I love wide field shots now that modern chips permits a much higher resolution than those old (but heroic) film days ;)

Clear Skies
Marco

[RobF]

:bowdown: Awesome Marco

I bring offerings to lay at the feet of your astrophotographical masterpiece! :)

[alan meehan]

MARCO i never knew there was this much out there WOW!

[Virgs]

Stunning on so many levels. Congratulations to you for this.

[Bassnut]

Wow, there you go (on the zoomify version), no need for mushy joined-together-stars on massive fields after all :thumbsup:

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop:woah Marco thats an awsome pic ;)
You should be very proud of this one buddy nice dedication there :)

[marco]

Thanks Rob :)



Thanks Alan, yep, there is a lot of stuff out there, next time I can try to do a mosaic with my 140Apo, all I need is a few hundred hours of dark sky :P



Thanks Virgs!



Haha, thanks Bassnut, maybe could try to remove all stars one by one with the eraser, but don't know if I will live longer enough to complete the job :D



Thanks Jen!

Clear Skies
Marco

[venus]

Hi, had to reply to your post seeing I'm here on the Island of Korcula home of Marco Polo;)
Amazing image great composition and detail is flawless.

Lydia

[marco]

Haha, you are in a very charming place Lydia, aren't you? ;)

Thanks very much for your nice comments!

Marco