Environs of IC4628

[jase]

Hi All,

Long time between posting images here, six months to be exact. Still actively imaging however just not enough time to contribute. Inspired by a few images posted here of IC4628, I thought I'd investigate further. It certainly is an amazing area of the southern night sky rich with clusters dust and assortment of emission nebulae. Perhaps what I found most interesting was the subtle hue differences around the IC4628 given its composition;

Environs of IC4628 (http://cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=230&fld_album_id=9)
Warning: higher resolutions are large is size and may take time to display.

Not going to go on about the processing. Plenty of it, let me tell you. HaRGB blends take time, especially when shrouded in golden tones of the MilkyWay. Stitching could have been improved in places but it’s relatively clean. No PixInsight used here for those on the bandwagon. :)

For those that may not visit my site, here are a couple of ‘bonus’ images – super simple single frame images. A change from the mosaic workflow at least;

Omega Centauri (http://cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=226&fld_album_id=10) - deepest visible light?? Who cares anyway? Check out the annotated version link for the dim fuzzies.

RCW132-133 (http://cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.php?fld_image_id=229&fld_album_id=11) - Rarely imaged, slightly featureless yet pretty cool.

Hope you enjoy them!

Cheers :thumbsup:

[Alchemy]

Wooooooooow. Stunning, still got the touch... Been a while since I saw your work.... And it's improved!!!!! That's just the first image.... Going back for the other 2

Quality work all round, gone deep for the 132 to bring out the Ha nice tonal distribution too.

[jase]

Cheers Clive. Always room for improvement! Truth be told, I've been working with a couple of people who produce fine arts. They have a different approach to photoshop which I'm trying to harness and apply to astro imaging. Not easy. There is plenty of brush work on masks of which I'm not a huge fan of as it can be difficult to keep an image real, but have found in small doses, especially when applied with warming or cooling filter can really boost an image. Anyway, pleased you enjoyed it.

[Octane]

Jase,

That mosaic is just something else entirely. Absolutely stunning.

The others are equally as inspiring.

Was so lovely to meet you at AAIC. :)

Looking forward to going through your presentation on the DVD. :)

H

[jase]

Thank you H! Its was fantastic to finally meet you too. Yell out if you have any questions on the presentation. Unfortunately most of the slides were very busy as I crammed a considerable amount of information into them so people had something to take away and review in their own time. Not an easy topic to digest in a 30min talk. Looking at your Rho mosaic, it would appear you know it all anyway. :)

[gregbradley]

That's a masterpiece Jase. Really really good. Love it.

The Omega and RCW132 are also really good but the mosaic - well, its in another league.

I enjoyed your presentation at AAIC. I am into mosaics myself and its a learning curve.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Its been quite a while Jase. Nice work all of it, but I really like the omega centauri image. There is lovely faint dust alll the way around the image. Superb work. Need to catch up again for some beers. Its been a while.

[irwjager]

That's poster material right there. Brilliant work!

[atalas]

Nice work Jase.

[jase]

Thanks Greg! Pleased you liked it (both the image and the presentation). I hope you get some value out of the latter. Seriously, with your CDK17 I would be hitting those long focal length mosaics in no time. I much prefer long focal length mosaics over short. You can bring to the viewer something rarely seen. On the other hand, wide field is object pairing. Thanks for your comment.



Cheers Paul! Yes, I don't mind Omega. Its hard to present a different view of an object thats so regularly imaged. I really pushed hard on the data. 20min luminance subs with only 4" of aperture can still dig relatively deep as this image shows. A few beers would be great sometime.



Thanks Ivo! Thanks for taking the time to check it out and make comment.



Cheers Louie. Appreciated.

[strongmanmike]

More excellent work Jase, had a good look at them and I like them all :thumbsup:, the wide Prawn area is a great vista!

Steve Crouch did a deep Omega Cen (http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/NGC5139_STL11K_E180.htm) back in 06 with his Epsilon 180 too, the area responds well to wide field and fast optics, I want to have another go with the 12" F3.8 under dark skies actually

Good to see some more shots from you :thumbsup:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Welcome back Jase!

As always, I can't fault your work. Just lovely!

Hoping to see more images from you in the coming year!

Cheers, Marcus

[Phil Hart]

superb jase.. a real master at work. love the widefield prawn a lot. you sure have got the mosaic technique sorted - i don't know if the effort that takes is fully appreciated yet!

Phil

[multiweb]

Subzero cool! I love the prawn surroundings. There's a very interesting neb just under in the arch that has dark filaments not unlike a similar area in the Eta Carina nebula. Omega Cent field is awesome. I was surprised to see so many background galaxies as well as some extremely faint and dark nebulae in the field. Very nice work and glad you're posting again. It's been too long. :thumbsup:

[sjastro]

Great image Jase.

Welcome back.

Steven

[renormalised]

Mr Jennings....long time no see:):)

Great images...all of them:)

[jase]

Cheers Mike! Pleased you liked them. RCW132-133 was ultimately used as a precursor to the Prawn mosaic to ensure I had the HaRGB work flow under control. Didn't want to test the flow on all four panels...would have been inefficient. Yes, I've seen Steve's Omega before. Pretty sweet given far less exposure time but thats what fast optics provide as you well know.



Thanks Marcus! There is always faults even in the best astronomical images. Its just a matter of learning how to hide them. Absolutely anything is possible in photoshop. Have more data waiting, just not enough time process them yet. Anyway, pleased you liked them.



Thank you Phil. I procrastinated over the orientation of the mosaic for sometime. With another few panels, NGC6188 would be in reach. This wasn't in my planning however. I may cover this off another time. I tend to agree on the effort statement. Once you've tried a few, you quickly gain respect for those that embark on such projects. Thanks again!



Cheers Marc! The lower parts of the scene are of much interest for a longer focal length. I liked your recent wide field rendition. Bert (avandonk) has done another which is equally inspiring. Will be sure to post more as soon as I get the chance. Has been a while!



Thanks Steven! Thanks for checking out the image and making comment - appreciated.



Cheers Carl! Yes, long time no see indeed. I work on the quality over quantity principle however. If I can produce a few solid images a year, I'm happy.

[beren]

:thumbsup: brilliant, great views Jase

[TrevorW]

Nice one Jase

[Peter Ward]

I recall Steve Crouch captured the dust around omega some years back, that said I suspect you've gone deeper again, and then some :)
Nicely done. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[iceman]

Wow, now they are simply stunning. All of them.

Smacked in the gob I was.

[Ric]

Hi Jase, great to see you back.

I have three words for your three images.

AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME.

[SkyViking]

Simply superb. Great images all three, with the mosaic being absolutely top notch. Thank you for sharing these, it's very inspiring.

[Hagar]

Lovely Jase, If that is you out of practice I can't wait to see what you can do with a bit of practice. A while between images but you still produce the goods. A huge field which look real good to me.
Nice work as usual.

[jase]

Cheers Beren! Pleased you enjoy the views!



Thanks Trevor! :thumbsup:



Peter, I'm sure someone else has probably gone deeper, but I can't find a reference image. If anyone can point me to one, that would be great. Wasn't too difficult to lift the dust off the background ADU with the long exposures. I think anyone could do it but you'll need relatively dark skies. Thanks again!



Cheers Mike! There's something in the three for everyone I guess! Have to say that I didn't mind putting together the single frame images for a change. I've got a couple more to share as soon as I get around to processing them.



Thanks Ric! Good to be back, though haven't really gone anywhere. Just busy with work and processing other peoples data (fine art projects) has kept me occupied. Will be sure to hang around for a while. Thanks again!



Thank you Rolf. I think my pick of the bunch would be the mosaic too. Reminds me of Pentax67 large format scene through a 200mm lens from a distance. Thanks for checking them out!



Cheers Doug! No, am not out of practice. Still been imaging. Will share more once I get a chance.

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Thanks again all. Appreciate the feedback :)

[Tom Davis]

Whoa! What a great image! That is a reference image for sure!

Tom

[richardo]

Lovely images Jase...(of course!)...
Love the way you have blended your data in the IC4628 to not only show the extent of the star cloud, retaining the colour but let the Ha data through and how its subtly over layed in other areas.
Your Omega is nicely done as well. Lovely subtle star colours and quite well resolved without burning the core.

All good mate!
Nice to see a few from you again.

All the best
Rich

[Ross G]

Stunning photos Jase.

I love the Omega Centauri shot.

Thanks.


Ross.

[jase]

Thanks Tom! A stellar street directory in fact!



Cheers Rich! Just followed usual practices for the blend (Ha+R:100% and B+Ha:15%) using pixel math. Trick is to ensure background ADU's are normalised between channels otherwise weightings end up killing the image on the RGB combine. I also stitched together a base RGB (no Ha data) which was blended in lighten mode to make the stars pop with colours (golden star clouds) and bring out the 'true' nebulae hues lost in the Ha+R shift. Relatively simple workflow. Omega doesn't resolve in 4" of aperture. Altering the arcsec/pixel ratio would still deliver a similar result. Need more aperture. Thanks again.



Thanks Ross! Pleased you liked them.

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Thanks All.

[RobF]

Heck, I'm late on the scene, but have to say "hat's off" Jase. More stunning images and thanks so much for posting and sharing them here. IC4628 is my fav for sure.