M8 from 2006

[Martin Pugh]

Yes, this data is that old, but I continue to find that I can do more with it 4 years later.

It was taken with a Tak FS128 @f6 and the STL11K, consequently the edges of the FOV were pretty rough, so they have been cropped out.

http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/M8-Narrowband.jpg

I created a sythethic luminance here with the SII/Ha frames, which when stretched was quite amazing right down to the Hourglass nebula.

I have also uploaded this luminance frame so you can see what I mean.
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/M8-SynLum.jpg

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Very very nice Martin.

Are you getting a bit wistful about the good ole days in NSW mate?

Greg.

[TrevorW]

That is very nice

[jase]

Excellent Martin. The 'letterbox' format seems to suit the field well. I've admired your SII hues in your narrowband images for sometime and this is no exception. You seem to pick the murky red so well contrasting the OIII. How do you find an SII/Ha synth lum to work with? I found it difficult to get right. Are you doing pixel math or weighting the masters differently when combining the two? Interested to know.

[danielsun]

Wow Martin! Stunning work as usual.:thumbsup:

Cheers Daniel.

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks all
Greg - I certainly miss those southern skies, but not your weather of late! Plus the fact that the Yass Valley was declared a natural disaster area last week coz of the rain. So, the fact that I have been clouded out here for days and days, means I have no choice but to go back to old stuff. But its fun.

Jase - yes, pixel math was used, but then multiple iterations of DDP, with different settings at each iteration were used on both the syn lum and the colour to graduate the brightness from the core to the outer nebulosity. These were then all layered in PS.

Cheers
Martin

[multiweb]

Quite a treat! Super sharp and loads of details. :thumbsup: