The Parrot-Seagull nebula

[strongmanmike]

Well, three clear nights went into this 11hr LHaRGB composition and I think the time was well spent - good conditions with average to ok seeing and perfect clear weather :thumbsup:

I have never imaged this object before and I have to say it has proved to be one of the more beautiful areas I have had the pleasure to image. The individual RGB frames hinted strongly that the the field would be full of colour and sure enough it didn't dissapoint, blue reflection (yep it's everywhere), red and magenta HII cloud features, brown-come-greenish dust and even some whiteish stuff was all in there...so I recon we have more of a Parrot here rather than a Seagull :P

Hope you enjoy IC1277 and NGC 2327

Medium size full frame image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/131581609/original) (37% full res 2.5meg)

Looks better in the Large full frame image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/131579976/original) (50% full res 3.5meg)

Close up of the Seagulls head NGC 2327 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/131582536/original)(900k)

Along with the Hydra Galaxy Cluster it was a productive 3 nights to finish off the year :thumbsup:

Mike

[jjjnettie]

:) Gorgeous work Mike.

[alan meehan]

Very good Mike 3 nights well spent by the looks,heaps of neb ,lovely
by the way is that a dead parrot or is it just resting.
AL

[h0ughy]

glad you have a new Birdy mike - is its name Repro? LOL

nice shot - some excellent detail

[multiweb]

Wow! Great shot. Love the colours. Beautiful starfield too :thumbsup:

[telecasterguru]

Not too shabby at all.

[Craig_L]

Lovely shot Mike. Pity you don't have just a slightly wider field of view to get the tips of the wings. Love the detail and colour range.

[Stevec35]

Very nice Mike. You have that Ha blending down to a fine art.

Cheers

Steve

[richardo]

Hey Mike, this is a pretty darn nice image.
Love the golden stars through out... maybe the high lights across the nebula appear a little pink for my taste, buuuutt... it's not displeasing at all.

50% of original.... wow... nice to zoom into and out on my 24".

If you don't have two monitors side by side, I just can't get my head around how you can process these huge images!

Great to see all these NEW images coming out... you must just go into nocturnal mode when out at your dark site!!

All the best
Rich

[DavidU]

Spiftacular Mike !:thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Well I'd have to say you've surpassed yourself on that one

[tornado33]

Great stuff Mike, thats the deepest Seagull Neb Ive seen. Theres more then just a hint of blue nebula around the neck of the gull as well as around the head area.
That dark chunk taken out of the upper right hand wing is interesting too, with stars embedded in refelection nebulae within.
Scott

[zipdrive]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Beautiful Parrot!!

[marc4darkskies]

Magical image there Mike! Top shot. Colour's spot on IMO. Love the hints of refl neb. Like I've said before, I reckon most emission nebs have some reflection components in them that are worth teasing out!! Lovely!

Cheers, Marcus

PS: I won't even complain about there being no full res version. ;)

[strongmanmike]

I agree Al that was the first thing I thought of, looking from inside a closed window at a Parrot who just flew into it :lol:



If I do my usual thing...it will be a re-parrot :P



Thanks Frank



Cheers Craig, after seeing the cloud predictions pre New Year...I actually thought of doing a mozaic...for a fleeting moment anyway :rolleyes:..the trunkated view makes it look more like a Parrot becasue the full extension of the spread wings isn't captured



Thanks Steve it is certainly a bit of alchemy that's for sure, ask me to write my recipe down and I don't think I could do it very easily :question:



Thanks Rich, yes Mr Pastel wouldn't like a Mr M&M's :lol:...(Marcus has had a bad influence on me you see...)

The full size image holds up pretty well but due to its size it doesn't make for easy viewing on the average moniter (not to mention teh band width necessary for a reasonable download time) so I seldom post full size nebula images, rather doing crops instead if there are interesting sections like the head of the seagul. Galaxy cluster images are a different story though, each galaxy is a seperate unit by itself so it's fun panning around and having a look and searching for the distant ones.



Thanks Trevor :thumbsup:



Thanks Scotty, deepishness (is that a word :question:) was my intention.
Yes the right hand wing ridge reminds me a little of that in NGC 6188, I haven't seen it like this in other Seagull images really..?



Ah, glad you liked it Marcus, I thought you might, your saturation-a-philic habits are clearly rubbing off ;)

The full frame image holds up very well but it is just too big to enable full enjoyment without shrinking it down on your screen so it's kinda back to square one then..:shrug:

[gregbradley]

Beautiful Mike.

Its a pretty area alright. I imaged that one a while ago with the ML8300 and just got the head area mainly.

Lovely framing, well chosen and hard to do with the rest of the neb being quite dim I imagine.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Greg, yes it is no Lagoon or Eta that's for sure and a mozaic would have been good too.

Mike

[Hagar]

Lovely Mike, That is one big sea gull. Imagine it flying overhead, no one would be safe. :lol::windy:

[RB]

Oh my, that's gorgeous, lovely rich colours there mate !!!

Wonderful work.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cosmic Bird Crap..? :P



Thanks boys, I was happy with the overall outcome given the effort in capturing the data :rolleyes: and for some reason I just felt it needed/suited good rich colours :shrug: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Alchemy]

Nice work mike, pinpoint stars with lovely colors, nice to see fresh work.... Although a repro or two will probably be attempted ( don't think it needs one though)

[RB]

Maybe do a repro using Fred's "Brady Bunch tie-dying palette" (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=40738&highlight=Brady+Bunch&page=2) for a real psychedelic look.

:P

[strongmanmike]

The link in that post doesn't work anymore but I think this (http://tinyurl.com/26fr7rb) is the image you wish me to emulate :thumbsup:...Fredo chanegd it to this (http://tinyurl.com/2fy7xhl) for a more popularly acceptable appearence if you remember :lol:

Mike
ps..can't help it, just had to post this Fred head shot of yours again, I love it :rofl:

[RB]

That's it !



Gee I wish I got royalties off that photo everytime you've used it. :rofl: :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Ah, yes...I better start posting this one then... :nerd:

[RB]

What Madusa lacks in hair, she makes up in sunglasses. :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Sorry, been away for a day or so...we got a bit off track there...promise I will never post this image of Fred again ...:question: :D