M78 and friends - Synthetic Lum added

[marc4darkskies]

The weather let up just long enough to capture a little under 6 hours of data before first quarter. In keeping with the whole Orion Complex, this is an absolutely gorgeous object and deserves more data. I'm pretty happy with it for now though but I'll get some more data next month. Hope you like it ...

Small:
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/131130926/large

Large ... that's full res for all you scaling down wooses out there! :D. Use your browser's zoom if you want to fit it on your screen (50% should do the trick)!
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/131130926/original

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Looks beautiful Marcus, nicely done, great colours (better choice than the Tarantula too! ;)).

The large version doesn't do it any favours though, just shows up the heavy smoothing and fuzzyness. Deffinitely best to do as you say and open the large version and then shrink it in your browser, theeeen it looks fabulous! :thumbsup: Must have been great to feel the imaging and processing vibe again.

Do you really recon it needs more data..? Maybe if you reprocess from scratch less smoothing would be necessary with more data?

Great image.

Mike

[Hagar]

Lovely image Marcus. The detail in the large image is superb but some fringing on the brighter stars is noticable but as you say shrunk down the image is a bottler. Colour is magnificent and quite contrasty.

[multiweb]

Very well done. Superb colors. One of my favourite area. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Mike - glad you liked it! The smoothing isn't thaaaat heavy though! :shrug: There's still sooome noise there although I confess I did a final noise reduction layer (on the low signal areas only) just before posting - maybe that pushed it over the edge. :) I've removed it now - see if you notice the difference. And you know I always show full res - warts and all - no need to hide defects IMO. Keeps us honest!! :);) Anyway, better to show all the detail available.



Thanks Doug - fair comment. The brighter stars are still a little ragged - I was impatient to post this wonderful object ... plus it's been 5 months or more between drinks!! I'll address that in a repro when I get more data.



Cheers Marc - glad you liked it!

[strongmanmike]

Dam I'm at work now and my screen here is higher contrast and bright lights but from what I can see it does look better... actually it looks great. I'll check it out again when I get home.

Mike

[CoolhandJo]

Wow - love that shot! Superb depth..

[prokyon]

Hi Marcus,

wow, what a pic!!! Awesome, so many details and the colors are great too!

Cheers

Werner

[TrevorW]

Damn it you beat me too it this was on my target list for this month

well done very nice

[jase]

Awesome Marcus. No qualms about too much noise control here. The image doesn't have a plastic feel. Hard to determine if the deep mauve hue in the background is part of the reflection neb complex or requiring black point adjustment - maybe worth a more in depth review. Overall details and reflection neb colours are well defined. Thoroughly enjoyed it. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Ok looking at home now in overcast afternoon light...and yes that looks better at full res, doesn't look as obviously artificially smoothed particularly in the outer areas. I still think the full size image does it no favours though, not that it is a bad image in any way heck at full res very few images look perfect but seeing the little warts is not necessary IMO and the scrolling necessary detracts from the viewing pleasure (works well with galaxy cluster fields though). Shrinking the full size view to 50% fits it perfectly on my 22" screen and then the image looks great, with the resolution looking more betterer :thumbsup:

A very nice and interesting view Marcus.

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks mate!



Thanks Werner!! It really is another gem in the Orion complex that's often underrated IMO. Like the others as well and M42 in particular, it's a challenge to process because of the diversity of subtle colouring.



Thanks Trevor - and never mind - happens to me all the time :lol:. I look forward to seeing your rendition!



Thanks a lot Jase - glad you enjoyed it!! I'm not sure about the background either (mainly bottom right quadrant?) but decided not to mess with it any further without more data. Suspecting some gross scale colour blotching. There aren't many deep examples around to compare with either.



Cheers mate! I understand what you're saying but I reeeeeally don't mind if the full res shows up flaws! Overall aesthetics aside, I always like to see others post full res (and am dissappointed when they don't) so I can better appreciate the nuance of detail in the object AND the skill of processing. Besides, it gives you something to critique :P;):D

[Paul Haese]

Sorry Marcus I am with Mike, too much noise control mate. The smaller image looks good but the larger one is plastic looking if I might borrow a term. As you might know I am currently doing this image too and it will require many hours of data to get it nice and smooth. It is not overly bright and therefore needs lots of exposure.

[Screwdriverone]

Dunno if I am in the same league as Mr Sidonio, especially with the clanger "more betterer"! :thumbsup:

But to my newbie eyes, it is a sweet pic, with some very nice details and a very interesting target that has been captured beautifully.

If I could produce pictures half as good as this, I would be a happy man.

Excellent, in my opinion.

Cheers

Chris

[marc4darkskies]

But ... but ... Mike said it looks OK now :sadeyes: .... and Jase said ... <pouting lips and sad puppy eyes> ... :lol:

Aahhh, no worries Paul :thumbsup: I appreciate the feedback and thanks for checking it out! In any case, I sure can't argue it needs more data, I said so up front so hopefully the clouds cooperate in a couple of weeks for the both of us! Look forward to seeing your rendition (at full res ;):))!



Cheers Chris! :)

[Paul Haese]

Marcus I think that is fair putting it up at full or near full res. Many of my recent images I have made larger anyway. Mike basically told me to put them up at that. Who's going to argue with Mike.:D

[gregbradley]

A very good image Marcus. Perhaps choice of setup not ideal for this object (F11+), as in my opinion it looks better a bit more widefield. The slow F ratio and long focal length opens the door to other problems, especially with our lack of available clear skies lately. The magenta in the background is actual so no worries with that. But as a close up it is a great result. I think though it would have been easier for you to get a better result at native focal length of the TOA150. The F11 is great for galaxies. I suppose that is the problem trying to make one scope do all things. I had the same thing recently with the TEC180 imaging at F5.25 using the 16803 chip. Too much coma in the corners but probably will work great with the 8300 chip being so small.

You as usual got an amazing amount of detail in that blue reflection neb area.Its amazing how deep you go with your TOA150.

Greg.

[RobF]

What a stunner!
I salute you sir!

(we need an emoticon for a salute.....:question:)

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot Greg. That's a fair point about using F11.7 but I felt the setup would frame the subject nicely. There wasn't much outside that field that would add to the shot IMO. As it turned out average seeing didn't make that choice particularly advantageous from the resolution perspective ... but you live with your choices. :shrug::) My next target (after I get more data for this one) will be at F7.3 though! ;)



You're too kind Rob - cheers mate!

[Garyh]

That`s a lovely rendition of this difficult area! Marcus.
More exposure would really help this as I know a lot of the background is faint stuff and would help preserve details..but with the weather as it is who knows how long that would be!
chers Gary

[Alchemy]

Nice shot of a very under-rated piece of sky, so many nice objects in Orion area worth shooting, this is definitely one of them.
Would have liked to have shot this myself this season... It's not looking likely given the weather.

[irwjager]

Very nice shot Marcus and well processed too - love those colors!

IMHO there's no shame at all in trading some resolution for a better SNR where noise reduction would otherwise be too heavy, but that's just me :)

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Gary, glad you like it! Yep, more data will help - 5.7 hrs is not enough, but that's all the moon would allow after the clouds cleared!



Thanks a lot Clive! I reckon objects like this one are underrated because many don't realise the nuance of colour that's present. Images of this object often appear predominately blue, overlooking the pastel reds oranges and yellows that are present.



Thanks Ivo, and I generally agree. But I pick my FL to suit the framing I want and if I hit the jackpot with seeing it really pays off at F11.7 - the TOA is an absolute gem in that regard! If I need longer exposures to compensate, so be it.

[marc4darkskies]

Sidonio time!! :D Since the seeing was no better than 2-3 arcsecs on the night, I thought I might be able to get away with adding an hours worth of synthetic Lum (ie adding in desaturated RGB as Luminance). Being binned 2x2 I still needed to do some decon, but I did end up with better S/N. Not a massive difference but quite noticeable.

Small:
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/131130926/large

Large:
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/131130926/original

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Yeh...that looks good Marcus, nice work.

Mike

[telemarker]

Brooding, stormy and threatening. This image evokes those feelings. Excellent image. :thumbsup:

Regards
Keith

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Mike!



Thanks Keith - glad you appreciate the art in the image :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

I just did this one on New years night and realised how hard it is to capture - yours is an excellent image with a plethora of detail and colour

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Houghy! Yeah, I managed to get another 5 hours of data on it during the clear patch recently. I'm reprocessing it now and have been able to go a bit deeper. It's quite difficult to process too because even with the extra data the fainter parts are dappled with red & blue hues - hard to get balanced and keep it reasonably natural looking. I've been working on it all day and still not happy :(