Dorado Cloud (LMC)

[jase]

Hi All,

Difficult to collect much data these days due to the weather. However I'm not limited to clear sky weekends operating gear remotely so I'll take clear skies when ever I get them - as scarce as they are of late. It seems I'm not alone reading other posts here on IIS. I managed to complete the project over the course of Oct/Nov collecting the final data sets needed. I've been eager to image this target for sometime given the first mosaic attempt was of its smaller relation, the Small Magellanic Cloud (http://www.cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=126&fld_album_id=12).

So here's my rendition of the Large Magellanic Cloud (http://www.cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=218&fld_album_id=12)
Warning: larger resolutions may take time to load.

LRGB composite, four panel mosaic, one too many hours processing, t'was a processing challenge. Gradients due to an error on my part, left the computer monitor on in the obs and its one of the only items not remote power switched so couldn't turn it off. Doh! :doh: I reshot much of the green filtered data, but still attempted to work with what I had. I'm not one to waste photons where possible.

The objective of this image was to display the scene in as true colour as possible (G2V referenced). Its extremely tempting to go all out with Ha data and try to bring back the colour shift, but I settled for luminance data alone and even then I only used it to reduce aspects of noise in the dim faint regions. Really the RGB data is what shined through in this data set. With no contrasty Ha, the delicate teal OIII in various regions of the image can be seen. Also rich star colours express the star burst regions with subtle dust across the galaxy's irrgular bar shape. I found it interesting that at first glance the tarantula looks highlight clipped.

Panel stitching is rough in part due to the colour gradients. I think I could have spent more time on it along with time on planning a little better as panel rotation did hinder the alignment. Though not enough to to make a considerable impact on the end result - just lost some sky real-estate but with the big chip of the Apogee U16M it matters not. Full size image has been reduced by to make it web friendly. 1:1 image I expect will make a good print. Moving on to other projects so this will do for now.

Hope you enjoy the swim around the scene.

All comments welcome. :)

[Octane]

Jase,

You've done it again. Without doubt, the finest Large Magellanic Cloud rendition I've ever seen.

Nothing further to add.

:prey2:

H

[multiweb]

Superb vista. All the bits are there. Very sharp. Looks very natural. :thumbsup:
I know what you mean. Ha is very abundant in this region. Some all Ha shots of the LMC are amazing.

[Martin Pugh]

Excellent job Jase - superb result in every way.

The ED does not suffer from those pesky clip reflections; and that is a real negative for FSQ (N) images.

Martin

[Peter Ward]

A masterful result Jase. Without doubt one the the best LMC images I have seen to date.
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[iceman]

Wow, that's a beauty. Thanks Jase, incredible.

[Hagar]

What a ripper Jase. Swim around is an understatement. The highest res image is a real treat with little globs and nebulous regions which are beautifully resolved. Makes me want to target some of these with some focal length and see what I end up with.
Thanks for posting such a comprehensive street map of the LMC.

[jase]

Cheers Humayun! Thanks for checking it out and making comment.:thumbsup:



Indeed Marc, the area is very rich in Ha. I was also tempted to solely create a luminance out of the red filtered data. Would have made a good fit to match to the green and blue. I was pleased to pick up the fainter structure of the galaxy. Thanks for your comment. :)



Thanks Martin. :) When a plan comes together, its pleasing to pull it off. Mosaics in particular test ones patience. Yeah, the ED produces pleasing stars compared to the earlier N model, but its a minor point in my opinion. The scene doesn't suffer overall. Am envious of your clement focuser solution. I don't have camera tilt issues, but the robofocus with its 1:75 gear ratio couldn't accurately pull the weight of the Apogee U16M with D9 cooling + filter wheel. I ordered a couple of steppers from Hurst in the US that have a 1:300 ratio (same step size), now focusmax v-curve slopes are text book perfect. Live and learn I guess. Thanks for checking out the image and making comment.



Cheers Peter. Pleased you liked it! :thumbsup:



Thank you kindly Mike. :) Strive for a memorable image, but not easy to achieve.



Cheers Doug. Yes, plenty of targets on display. Its images like this that urge me to get a longer FL scope and go hunting too. Long focal length mosaics are sensational, alas I just can't get enough of wide field work so the FSQ is here to stay for a while. As you indicate, it makes a rather cool street map of the area. Thanks for your comments. :)

[troypiggo]

Oh. My. Really enjoyed swimming around in the largest version. Fantastic!

[marc4darkskies]

Even on my crappy work monitor this looks like a ripper Jase! I'll definitely be browsing around the high res when I get home! You are the king of mosaics!

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Ditto and yeh me too! :thumbsup:

Mike

[Stevec35]

Pretty amazing image Jase. Well done!

Steve

[h0ughy]

well thats an eyefull! Fantastic vista

[Ric]

Blimey that's awesome Jase, like Troy I enjoyed drifting through the large version.

The little Bubble nebula really jumps out at you.

A lovely work of art

Cheers

[jase]

Thanks Troy. Pleased you enjoyed it. Plenty of objects on display to keep on occupied!:)



Far from the mosaic king Marcus -still have my training wheels on to be honest. There's more work that goes into the processing of mosaics, I can testify that! Thanks for checking it out.:thumbsup:



Thanks Mike! :)



Thank you Steve. Pleased you enjoyed it.



Cheers Houghy. An eyefull eh? I think of it as "scroll-worthiness" :)




Thanks Ric. Indeed, plenty of features on display. The largest size has been reduced quite heavily to make it web friendly - around 65%. Will keep the 1:1 for prints. My favourite OIII object in the scene is NGC2020. Looks pretty cool. Thanks for checking it out and making comment. :thumbsup:

[John Hothersall]

What a result, looked at this through binocs - a very rich region. Great to scroll around this stellar monument.

John.

[Garyh]

Awesome work Jase! Now we know what you have been up too! ;)
The main bar looks beautiful like the finest star dust! surrounded by all those Ha OIII objects.......
eye candy stuff!
cheers Gary

[Alchemy]

Top shelf stuff..... And well done on finding some holes in the endless clouds to complete the project.

[marco]

This is indeed a great shot Jase! I am working as well on a large mosaic of the area with my lens, so far I have gathered several hours of light but unfortunately not enough to complete the pictures. Very bad weather and some problems on the equipment are delaying this project quite a bit, so it is refreshing to see your great rendition of this charming area!
Bravo, really well done

Clear Skies
Marco

[gregbradley]

Great image Jase. Especially getting the data with so much rainy weather around. Whereabouts is your remote observatory?

Greg.

[Paddy]

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for posting it.

[spearo]

Beautiful!
Talk about detail!
frank:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Ok, just reproed my image first (thanks for the feedback too)....aaand then I had a look at your effort now on the home computer aaaaand in more natural lighting ah hem I was going to wait till 2am tomorrow when I was tired to have a look buuut naah.....:lol:

Well..? That's a fine image indeed Jase. I opened the largest version (made a cup of tea while it opened) and then resized it in my browser to fit it on the screen a little better so I didn't have to scroll around like playing air hockey but the res was there. The decision to keep it a basic RGB based image has worked a treat and produced a lovely natural sharp view of this well known but big piece of sky, it almost looks like a photograph only better :thumbsup:

Mike

[jase]

Thanks John. This is certainly a prime binocular target to take is the large scale vista. Thanks for your comments.



Cheers Gary. Yes, up to no good! ;) Its taken a while to get the set up working again, but it doing well at the moment. Pleased you enjoyed it!



Thanks Clive. Appreciate the comment. There has certainly been some disappointing weather about. Automated imaging certainly assists in extracting the most from any clear skies around.



Thank you Marco. Will be most interested to see your rendition when you get around collecting the final data sets and processing. It is a facinating part of the sky with such diverse objects. Thanks for check it out.



Cheers Greg. :) The remote set up is located in Gippsland (SE Victoria). It known for its high rain fall, fertile land. :shrug: That said the location gets its share of good weather where I take advantage. :D



Thank you Patrick! Pleased you enjoyed the swim around the large resolution image.



Cheers Frank! :thumbsup: Mosaics offer the combination of resolution and wide field. Just can't get enough of them of late.



Hey Mike, indeed I just saw your repro. Looking good. As I mentioned, it helps to sit on an image for a while and head back to it. No problems on the feedback - constructive feedback always helps. Thats what is great about the IIS community here.

Yeah, I agree that working primarily on the RGB data alone has struck the right balance with this image. There are numerous features, many subtle, that I suspect would get washed away with a contrasty luminance or at least lost with colour tone variations. Anyway, thanks for checking it out again. :thumbsup:

====
Thanks All! :D

[richardo]

Stunning Jase, just stunning!
The Tarantula and surrounding HII nebs and regions just jump off the page...
Love this area with all the young blue stars as well.
Quite a bit of dust showing up through out the galaxy too.
Haven't seen this before.

Superb and well worth the wait;)

All the best
Rich

[alexch]

What a treat! Indeed, the finest image of LMC I have seen. The dark nebulae on LMC are amazing.

Not enough superlatives anyway.
:bowdown: :bowdown:

Alex

[prokyon]

Hi Jase,

what a stunner. You finished a great project excellently! :thumbsup:

Cheers

Werner

[CometGuy]

This is just Epic Jase. Also enjoyed your SMC just as much. Funny thing is when I opened it in full res, first thing I thought is thats nice rendition of 47 Tuc against the SMC, only to realise I was looking at the much fainter NGC362 :)

In your full size LMC image I wonder if that is a galaxy at coordinate 1397, 1840 (with 0,0 being at the top-left corner of the image) ?

Terry

[DavidU]

WOW ! How good is that.:thumbsup:

[mswhin63]

Brilliant stuff

[dugnsuz]

Aaaaaaaggghhhhhh - too good jase!!!:lol:
Doug:thumbsup:

[RobF]

Incredible work Jase. A beautiful and very educational image in its own right. Hat off too for having the tenacity to get that much data with skies as they've been.

[jase]

Hey Rich! Thanks mate. The region has a bit of everything, but could probably do with a little more reflection neb to keep you happy. ;) The dust across the galaxy bar is pretty cool.



Cheers Alex. Only limited by the imagination. Have to say I found your LMC/SMC wide field image taken down Wilson's Prom inspirational. Was good to see the spacial relationship between the two. :)



Thanks Werner. :) Let me tell you at times it feels like the project will never be complete. Planning, data acquisition and processing seems like an eternity with mosaics.



Thank you kindly Terry. :) Tempted to revisit the SMC as I'm sure I would process it differently today. You've got hawk eyes for picking out the galaxy at the pixel coords you mention. Its NGC1809 coming in at mag 12. Please refer to attachment below. Let me know if the field is incorrect and I'll track it down. The scene is full of faint clusters and galaxies. Interesting what dark skies and 4" aperture can squeeze out. Thanks again.



Cheers David! Pleased you enjoyed it.



Thanks Malcolm :thumbsup:



Thanks for checking it out and making comment Doug. Need to get out of the DSLR mindset - you've got what it takes on the processing front as exhibited in your LMC rendition. :thumbsup:



Cheers Rob. Plenty to see in the scene. A remote automated set up helps considerably in the data collection process.

===
Thanks all. I appreciate your support. :thumbsup:

[CometGuy]

Thats it Jase, NGC 1809. I also used Aladin to confirm it (see attached image). It struck me as it is being viewed practical straight through the LMC.

Terry

[mithrandir]

Jase, Excellent!

I turned unimap loose on the full resolution version. It found 19896 objects, and matched 1438 of them (at which point it decided it had enough for good calibration).

391 stars found in Tycho2.
10672 DSOs in the FOV.

Andrew

[leon]

I know i might be late in offering my opinion, but i have to say, as the others have, an awesome image Jase.
That was a long time at the helm which paid off, top shot.

Leon

[Phil Hart]

clearly a bit late to the thread but can see why others are impressed.

i remember seeing the SMC mosaic in print in Parkes and being very impressed then. this would be beautiful to see in a gallery too. really nice.

love the story about the monitor too..;)

[glenc]

Fantastic image Jase, thanks for posting it.

[iceman]

There's been many great images this week but I couldn't go past this one for IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

Just beautiful.

[Octane]

And more than worthy it is.

Congrats, my friend. : )

H

[jase]

Indeed, quite interesting when you put NGC1809 in that perspective Terry. There are undoubtedly numerous other object obscured by presence. Thanks again.



Cheers Andrew. Quite a wow factor with a 10,672 DSO count! One too many targets for a longer focal then. I think it would be possible to image around the area for many months and not be disappointed given the diversity of targets, Ha and OIII emission lines along with tight star clusters. Thanks for giving unimap a whirl.



Thanks Leon. Pleased you liked it. :thumbsup:



Cheers Phil! Never too late. I reflect on the SMC mosaic, only two panels. Seems like childs play now. Though I shouldn't underestimate the effort that went into it. Last weekend, I cabled the monitor into the remote power switch. Lesson learnt on that one. The only problem now is that if I want to turn it on when I'm in the observatory, I need to use another computer in the house to turn it on at the switch. There is no manual override. Oh well, minor hassle.



Thanks Glen. Appreciated.



Thank you kindly Mike for the IOTW.



Cheers H!

=====
Thanks all. Appreciate the support over the year. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you, your family and the IIS community as a whole a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. Keep safe over the holiday season. May clear dark skies grace us all. Darn it, there is more data to collect and imaging projects to complete.

All the best :xmas::cheers::2thumbs:

[multiweb]

Congrats on IOTW. A great shot for sure and all the best for the xmas break an new year. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Ahhhhh sublime!

[CoolhandJo]

Wonderful Image. Congrats.