Cat's Paw Ha and HaRGB @ 400mm

[dugnsuz]

Hello again...
A new image snatched between cloud and rain, the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) in glorious Ha-o-vision.

Astro 40D (-21ºC)
Canon 400mm f5.6L @ f5.6 + Astronomik 12nm Ha EOS clip filter
10x20min subs, iso1600

High Res (Ha)...
http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k461/doug-robertson/?action=view&current=22aaa.jpg

EDIT...
10.7.11

Added 170mins of RGB colour data taken with same camera/lens.
Wasn't too happy with the RGB data as I had stopped down the lens with an external aperture mask in order to tighten up detail/stars - resulting subs were a bit dim and lacking punch and I feel this HaRGB blend suffers a bit for that - may revisit this when weather and moon allows.

High Res (HaRGB)...
http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k461/doug-robertson/?action=view&current=22aaaa.jpg

Cheers for looking

Doug:thumbsup:

[atalas]

Hey,that's very nice Doug...hope you get some color soon.

[dugnsuz]

Cheers Louie:thumbsup:

[renormalised]

Nice piccie, Doug. Plenty of detail in the neb and surroundings.

[jjjnettie]

Really nice Doug!!!!

[multiweb]

Top shot Doug. You've nailed that focus. Who needs a scope hey?:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[CoolhandJo]

Very nice indeed!

[dugnsuz]

Cheers Carl:thumbsup:


Ta jjj - nice to actually get some light onto the sensor for a change!


Thanks Marc - the Canon 400mm f5.6L with its 7 lens elements is as close to a well corrected scope as they get!


Thankyou Paul

Thanks all for the kind comments.
Doug

[Rigel003]

Nice capture, Doug, and the field is well suited to this focal length. Don't know how you managed to find the cloud free time to get this though -local weather has been pretty unforgiving in the last week or so.

[dugnsuz]

Thanks Graeme - last Thursday night a sucker hole developed so I took advantage before it quickly closed up. Very cold and clear for a couple of hours then mist started to creep from horizon to zenith - grey cloud ever since.
Doug:thumbsup:

[Craig_L]

That's very, very nice Doug. Those 20 mins subs have brought out lots of detail in the paw and also those surrounding whiffs of gas floating around the paw. Great foundation for the RGB to come if you haven't taken it already.

[dugnsuz]

Cheers Craig - I've been trying to marry the Ha with the RGB data I have from a couple of weeks back. I tried to be clever with that data by stopping the lens down with an external mask - only succeeded in getting dim but tight images! I need more signal for these RGbs.
Doug:thumbsup:

[John Hothersall]

Thats a beautiful result, focusing must have been tough.

John.

[Ross G]

Hi Doug,

What a great shot. Sharp and so much detail.

Your photos are paving the way for the rest of us to dust off our SLR lenses and try Ha photography from the suburbs.


Thanks.

Ross.

[dugnsuz]

Cheers John - I use the SynScan mount electronics to aid in focusing...without the Ha filter in place I pick a bright star as User Object #1, then frame the Cat's Paw (and find a guide star) as User Object #2.
Then insert Ha filter into imaging chain - focus using Live View on User Object #1 (bright star) then slew to object #2 confident in focus and framing!! LOL



Cheers Ross - good lenses can produce some very pleasing results:thumbsup:

Doug

[Hagar]

Very nice Doug. What a rich Ha area this is and you have captured a lot of it.
Very nice , well done.

[dugnsuz]

Cheers Doug:thumbsup:

[dugnsuz]

HaRGB added...see first post
Cheers
Doug

[Paul Haese]

Looks pretty good Doug. The star field is well shown, with all the lovely little dust lanes. Maybe more data will give even greater depth. The actual nebula is just a tad salmon, but still looks pretty nice. Overall a very pleasing image. Certainly a tough one to image and process. Did this last month myself in RGB, but think it is far too red for my liking. Getting the star field to look right with this object being so red is a real challenge. So I reckon your workmanship here is very good.

[dugnsuz]

Thanks Paul - Cats love Salmon!!!
I know what you mean though - the curse of the blend!
Doug:thumbsup:

[Craig_L]

Hi Doug,

HaRGB version looks really good although I think you have lost some of the detail that the Ha version had. Not sure why that is. Great shot none the less, regardless of DSLR and lens.

Craig

[dugnsuz]

Ta Craig - down to the lack of detail and resolution in the RGB data which makes up the bulk of the blend I reckon. I hope to redo this when weather is better - certainly not tonight by the looks!
All the best
Doug:thumbsup: