NGC6357 Nebula in NB

[Bassnut]

Hi Guys

NGC6357 Nebula (http://fredsastro.smugmug.com/Photography/Astrophotography-1/16631549_fD6fJj#1289163657_k6bBzMk-A-LB) in colour mapped Narrowband.
Close up of the area around Star cluster Pismis 24.
Ha:SII:Ha:OIII mapped as LRGB. Ha 10hrs bin1 20min exposures , SII and OIII 1.6hrs each bin2 10min exposures.
Taken on a 10"RCOS RC at f9 (2275mm FL), PME mount and ST10XME in urban skies . Off axis guided.

Fairly ordinary star gear, cant be bother fiddling too much :P. And the colour is a bit odd, but the moon was up, so noise was a bother and held back fiddling with colour balance.

Also known as the War and Peace Nebula.

This is an oft imaged object, but not this interesting bit close up.

[gregbradley]

I like it Fred. Very nice. Lots of detail and punch which is your trademark. Good one.

Greg.

[telemarker]

That's really good Fred. It's almost hard to recognise at this FL, just catching the last star of that line of 4. You've selected the part of the nebula with the most colour, the O3 region came up strongly and heaps of detail in the Ha clouds. I like it :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Thanks Greg, Keith.

OIII was strong, but only in the central bit. SII, as usual was a joke. I was keen to crop to the central zone, but it quite small and dim, the future 17-20" will fix that :D.

[Screwdriverone]

Very nice Fred,

Is that nebula giving us the finger?

Love the palette, a very striking blue island in the middle, lots of details to swim around in.

Starting to come around to liking NB images, very nice indeed.

Cheers

Chris

[telemarker]

Yeah, I was looking at that central bit. Shaped like a tiny wee cone nebula, any Hubble shots of it ?

[Bassnut]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061219.html

Im close :lol::lol: (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061219.html) just a bit more tweaking in PS :question:

[jjjnettie]

Wonderful work there Fred.

[CoolhandJo]

Very nice indeed! Love your targets!

[multiweb]

Impressive close up. Did you use an AO on this one?

[h0ughy]

fantastic Shot - though i wonder what the white spots were ;)

[renormalised]

Nice touch on a nice neb...like the mauve/blue OIII highlight :)

Dave, those white spots are blobs of paint...Fred got a little concerned we'd miss our stars, so he used some gloss acrylic at the last moment :):P

[Bassnut]

Thanks Guys. On a second look perhaps HA:Ha:SII:OII wouldve worked better, the green is a bit wierd.
Didnt use AO, just OAG.
I thought about fixing the random white dot noise, but then other noise became pretty obvious. The random white dots are a supprisingly handy distraction from other artifacts and noise.

[strongmanmike]

I like this Fred.

I am glad you left the stars in so it completes it as an astronomical image, it's got nice depth and the colours, while not traditional, still work here, cool fOV too...mega exposure as usual :eyepop:..I did this area last year in LHaRGB at a little over half this FL and was got a bit of 3D depth but the full NB (and eons of exposure) used here does provide more 3D effect, nice work! :thumbsup:

Mike