Gem Cluster & Ngc3324

[richardo]

Hi all.
Managed to get a little Ha on this last night just to finish it up.
While the cluster came out nicely, I think due to the reflective dust and entwined emission that surrounds this area, it appears rather stodgy in the area from the Ngc3324 through to the cluster. Sort of lacks depth, bit like a soup. No noise reduction applied but this area looks like it.
I used the Ha as a blend to the red channel to hi light and improve the colour about the main HII area.
Hard area to be happy with.
Still I do like the cluster's reflection!

Details are on the image page if you'd like to take a look...
http://www.baytop-observatory.com/


All the best
Rich

[strongmanmike]

Super shot Rich, nice composition, lovely stars and some nice star colours too. You've juuust squeezing the two objects in, a liiiittle more field would have been just perfect, but it still looks great.

Gabriela's profile area is lovely with some nice filaments showing above the ridge line arc giving the area a subtle 3D appearence. The reflection neb around the cluster is revealed well too.

I found the image as displayed looks best when viewed at 75% in my browser.

Top shot :thumbsup:

Mike

[richardo]

Thanks Mike for the encouraging comments;).
I thought I'd grab a quick cluster the night I took the Gem, but managing to just get the lovely little emission pocket of Grabrielas face, well, two for one, had to have it!
Sooo, I waited to grab a little Ha... last night was just ok and it did help lift things as the small amount of exposure time I had previously with the colour looked a bit mute.

Yes I found on my mon too that reducing the size did do it a bit more justice.

Thanks Migel:thumbsup:

All the best
Rich

[gregbradley]

A superb image. Beautiful round stars and nice framing and colours.
The stars themselves are very appealling as they are so luminiscent.
I quite like the type of look of images from well made Newts.
Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Oh yes ... great image in every respect Rich!! Well done!

Cheers, Marcus

[iceman]

I really like this image, Rich! Just beautiful.

It's now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

[richardo]

Hi Greg, it was an interesting area to process!!
Too much stretching, too little.. too dark, too light.. too smooth, too crunchy.. was hard to decide in the end with quite a few variations to meander through...



Thanks very much Marcus!!
Always have intended to get this cluster, so it was nice to have two objects i haven't imaged before in the same fov.!

Thanks again guys:thumbsup:

All the best
Rich

[richardo]

Hi Mike!
That was a shock to come into IIS and see my image!
I do appreciate the privilege.

This area certainly has a wealth of interesting things.

Thanks again and all the best:thumbsup:
Rich

[Octane]

Rich, mate, that's a stellar image! That's one of my favourite little clusters. While working on my Eta Carinae image, my eye keeps darting to that region. So nice.

Agree with Greg, the stars are just gorgeous.

Congratulations on IOTW! Well deserved. : )

H

[richardo]

Hey 'H', mate, thanks a heap!!
This little glob certainly reminds me of the Jewel box. The two red stars are I think what does it...
Mmmm, but juuust love that reflection...

Look forward to your up and coming stunner on Eta;)

All the best
Rich

[Octane]

You're right, it's very much like the Jewel Box (wish I had a long focal length instrument!) in its density.

My image will be a while; I only have 2 hours of luminance and a handful of red data. Next new Moon, perhaps. Tempted to grab some hydrogen alpha in the mean time (not for a blend) for a standalone image. Will see how I go... if the weather ever cooperates.

H

[Hagar]

Lovely Rich, The framing shows off both the cluster and the nebula very well. Sharp without being too sharp.
Well done.

[Stevec35]

Lovely shot Rich! Nothing much else to say except that I think virtually everything is right with this image. Cheers Steve

[richardo]

Thanks very much Doug and Steve for your nice comments!
Was lucky to image this at all. Was going to pack things in as I finished up the last of the colour to my HH image.
The wind didn't come up as per usual this time of the year, so thought while the chance was there.

Cheers again guys!!

All the best
Rich

[multiweb]

Nicely done Rich and congrats on IOTW. :thumbsup:

[Astroman]

Beautiful, do you have an image with just the Ha channel? I am getting a soft spot for Ha so would like to see differences in objects and how they show up.

[richardo]

Cheers for that Marc!!



Thanks Andrew!
I know what you're saying about Ha. I too love the contrast.

The Ha I collected was for one purpose, that was to highlight and better colourise the HII areas. Lucky because I only took 48' worth and the data really is quite poor due to me not re- collimating my scope when I started:rolleyes:.. lazy, but it served its purpose.
so really not worth posting:)

Thanks guys for taking the time to comment.

All the best:thumbsup:
Rich

[hotspur]

Great image,lots of work done here,well done.

Send it into APOD

Cheers Chris

[richardo]

Thanks very much Chris:thumbsup:

Mmm, apod, don't think I play in the same ball park as what the NASA crew want... but I have I've tried:shrug::D

All the best
Rich

[atalas]

Wonderful Rich!

[richardo]

Hey Louie, thanks for that mate!

Nice to see you're still hangin' around.:D

Had any imaging time??:shrug:

All the best:thumbsup:
Rich