Helix in HaLRGB (8" Newt and QHY9) (NOW WITH ADDED SIDONIO'S....)

[RobF]

The helix was the last object I chased on the first night of the South Pacific Star Party back in May. The LRGB data here was collected between 3:30am and start of twilight (just after 5am). I didn't want to stay up that late to collect Ha data back in Bris, so I've only recently bagged that to allow me to put it all together. It was particularly pleasing on the 2nd night of Ha collection to get decent 20min Ha subs - the first time I've managed to push my gear that far without losing data.

Didn't really get a lot of RGB at Wiruna (only 10mins of green and blue), but perhaps the clear dark skies have helped me get away with that a little to end up with this HaLRGB conglomeration. Probably more technically correct to say its HaRRGB, with a bit of L luminosity mixed in along the way.

Nice to have started to get some of the outlying nebulosity and some of the inner structure even though my rig doesn't really have the resolution and sharpness to do it justice. Cropped in to about 40% of actual field to highlight object (and hide poor flat correction at edges of field :P)

Thanks for looking :)

Data: HaLRGB 170:55:15:10:10
(LRGB data 5mins unbinned, Ha data 10 & 5mins unbinned)
FOV & FL: Approx 25 x 20 arcsecs at 1m
Camera: QHY9 + QHY Filterwheel
OTA: Skywatcher SW600 8inch F5 Newtonian on Heq5
Guiding: 9x50 SW Finderscope + Orion SSAG
Processing: PixInsight, PS
Sky Conditions: Excellent (Wiruna skies at least....;))

[gregbradley]

That's impressive.

Apart from a bit of green in a few of the stars you've done exceptionally well there. Helix is a veyr dim object and you've shown it remarkably clearly.

Greg.

[Alchemy]

Once you have the outer loop you know you have caught some faint detail, well done

[AlexN]

Outstanding effort Rob... I can't for the life of me capture a decent image of the helix.. its actually driving me a little batty! :D haha

You've done a really impressive job of resolving the inner detail within the central ring, and that glorious outer loop too! Very very well done! :)

Whats most impressive is the colour rendition seems very nice with such short integration times for R G B..

[CoolhandJo]

Great detail and colours. Top work that!

[multiweb]

Outstanding shot. You know you've got a good one when you can see that little side-on galaxy under the brightest yellow star at 2 o'clock in the red neb. Top work.:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yeh pretty good job Robby, nice solid look to the inner regions and some good outer detail showing through.

The stars look a little Vanderhaven'ish though (so just remove'em :P) but overall a great result.

Mike

[TheAstroGuy]

Rob,

Marc is spot on you got that tiny galaxy which means your tracking and focus was excellent, nice image indeed!!

That set-up is a really good one with the finder guider, i use that combo with my 12'' and been thinking of putting an 8" on the EQ6 for a while now, I'll bet you could get pin point stars for ages with that combo.

Kind Regards

Shane

[marc4darkskies]

Very nicely done Rob! :thumbsup: Surprisingly rich colour given the shortage of colour data. Great neb extension too.

Agree with Mike ... some tweaking of star colours would make a difference.

Cheers, Marcus

[batema]

Hi Rob,

It looks great and I agree the colour is amazing given the short time of exposures. And the detail in the centre is amazing. Well done.

Mark

[Troy]

Wow Rob I like it :D

[ozstronomer]

Rob

That's a great shot, looks like the drive to the SPSP was well worth it. Top Shot:thumbsup:

Geoff

[RobF]

Many thanks everyone for the kind comments. I may not get a chance to go "dark skies" again for a while, so have to relive the adventure with the old data I'm still finishing off :)




Thanks Greg. Yes, I hadn't originally planned to do Ha Greg but the LRGB data seemed good enough to see what it added. I obviously needed lots more green and blue, though at the time I was concentrating on getting good L data before getting too carried away.



This is the first time I've ever had a go at this one Clive, but happy the QHY9 started to dig out those fainter details.



Cheers Alex. I think the fact it was under clear dark skies is the only reason I've (sort of) got away with it :)
It was a real buzz when the 20min Ha started to show up some of the "globby" "droplet like" detail on the inside edge. Bit of a dilemma whether to use the slightly 10min Ha or the much better S/N of the 20mn - just melded both in the end of course.....:D



Thanks Paul!



Yes, I was worried about tracking or artifact when I first spotted that little blighter must admit Marc :lol:
I must look it up - presumeably way out behind the Helix? I was reassured to see it in other people's images though.



Thanks Mike - your award winning rendition was there as a reference in the final stages of processing to reassure me I wasn't bringing out noise rather than Ha! :D

Surely that must be a compliment though if I have Fred stars!! :P



Cheers Shane - I agree - have been very happy with the finder guider. Simple but very reliable. Brendan (bmitchell82) helpfully machined up the adaptor for me :thumbsup:. This was only my 2nd or 3rd go with the finder guider and maxim guiding from memory, first time I've dithered, first decent opportunity to shoot dark sky RGB, first ever all nighter too I think. Gives me confidence to keep pushing myself and the gear a lot further though.



Thamks for that Marcus!
I debated "operating" on the green/blue tinge as it definitely looks a bit dodgey and distracting. I'm still figuring out star masks in Pixinsight and thought I'd leave it as an honest portrayal of my lack of G and B data in the end (mind you, might just be terrible colour calibration too :lol:)



Thanks Mark. I had a lot of fun with this one, although the faintness meant I had to push harder and the lack of decent flats started to bite. I'm done a lot better since, but still struggling there same as your comments at AF.



Thanks for looking Troy :)



Thanks Geoff - yep, it was great to get away and such a fun drive. Shame its so far - the people, the big scopes and the great sky made it a most memorable SP :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[davewaldo]

Top effort, I'd love to see a less compressed version! :)

[RobF]

Thanks Dave!
I'm really pleased how this came out in the end. I had no idea the data would go this far or I would have spent a lot more time on it subsequent nights at Wiruna. The Ha was really handy too - shot during nearly full moon(s) no less from Brissy.

I've uploaded the biggest jpg I can to my website of the version just before this one - in hindsight I think I've slammed it a bit far to bring out the outer halo - the stars have behaved a little bit better in this one too. Version shown above is only one slide to the left for comparison.

http://picasaweb.google.com/UserRobF/RecentWork#5511543129929643378

You'll need to view in full screen mode (icon up near top left corner + press F11 for browser full screen) to get maximum res out of Picasa. (I still haven't got any more sophisticated than good old Picasa for hosting...can email you a bigger file if you want).

Rob

[AlexN]

You don't really have fred stars. If you did, there would be none. Haha

[davewaldo]

I love it!

[RobF]

Wouldn't Fred Stars have razor sharp RC diffraction stripes and glorious resolution?! ;)

[spearo]

well done
That's the difference a F/5 scope produces! mine would need 15 min exposures and still not produce as nice colors
well done
frank

[marco]

Extremely well done Rob, your result is by far better I could imagine possible with your setup, maybe a bit too much smoothed with noise reduction filters but very very nice!

Marco

[RobF]

Appreciate that Frank
Your C14 has wonderful resolution though. I'll tell the wife I need a big SCT AND my Newt to do justice to my next object!;) (wish the budget allowed!)



Thanks Marco - I wanted to sharpen up detail in the Ha, and that also required fairly aggressive noise treatment. Much of the blur is also inherent limitation of the scope I think - I'm cropped in way past what I would normally blow up for such a relatively large image format, so there actually isn't too much jpg artifact in the end.

Just for interest, this was the best I could do with LRGB (no Ha) - probably oversaturated, but haven't bothered to backtrack.
Also shown, version before original pic - slightly less emphasis on outer halo and bit more centre sharpening....

[RobF]

And yet another Sidonio - with bit more sharpening and less stars....