Can you see Gabriela? (in Mapped Colour)

[Brad Moore]

Hello fellow IceinSpacers,

Here is my latest image of NGC 3324 - Gabriela Mistral Nebula. Can you make out her profile?

This one had a real short exposure time of 36 hours :) and is by far the most difficult image I've ever processed to date, mainly due to the poor S/N in the OIII and SII channels.

http://www.southern-astro.com.au/gallery.php?PhotoID=16

Enjoy!

Brad Moore

[davidpretorius]

wow 36 hours!!!

easy to make out, but i am still reeling after thinking about how long you have to expose yourself for!!! and the camera too!

well done!

[astroron]

Quite a beautifull image.in the realms: of the professionals, 36 hours is amazing.:eyepop: :thumbsup:

[Miaplacidus]

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

Fantastic images. 36 hours! (What's your diagnosis, Brad?:lol: )

Thanks for posting them,

Brian.

[h0ughy]

what the others said Brad, truely inspirational and awesome!!!! and yes if you cant see the image you need to see a shrink!

[Striker]

Brad cant see anything mate...to be honest all I can see is loads and loads of spectacular detail.

Why stop at 36 hours....go for 12 months next time.

Time to give up I think....lol

[Raydar]

Great shot mate.

How many hours per night did you expose for?

[fringe_dweller]

LOL yer i after I :google: ed it I could :)
http://www.astrosurf.com/antilhue/NGC%203324.htm
Awesome! your makin the dslr people ill mate! reminds me why I stick to the widefields :D
actually I would of named it after alfred hitchcocks profile if it was me :lol: :P

[Brad Moore]

Trust me, I have method to my madness!

Here is what 12 hours looks like, as you can see mapped colour images are not very forgiving.

Cheers,
Brad

[Brad Moore]

Approx 5 nights.

Cheers,
Brad

[Brad Moore]

Hi Fringe Dweller,

Thanks.

It's a bit unfair compairing a mono, narrowband, 16bit astro camera to a single shot colour 12 bit camera. :) I know because I have both. I love my DSLR just as much as my SBIG.

My wife like renaming all my images. :D

Cheers,
Brad

[PhotonCollector]

:eyepop: That is an awesome image, I had never really taken notice of NGC 3324 previously. What made you decide to choose that object ?

Interesting colors. Did you say the Hubble palette ?

Paul

[PhotonCollector]

:doh: Correction, I do know which nebula that is now. Here's a Film image I did back in 1997, then scanned from the print (fingerprints included). :lol:

Paul

[Brad Moore]

Thanks Paul,

Only because it was in the right position in the night sky. Plus it's never really been imaged all that well. ;)

Hubble is SII:Ha:OIII mine is OIII:Ha:SII. Hubble gives the profile a nice flesh colour. :)

Cheers,
Brad

[Brad Moore]

WOW, 1997 fine effort. What is that big cluster?

Cheers,
Brad

[PhotonCollector]

The cluster is NGC 3293. Both the cluster and the nebula you imaged can been seen in the bottom right of the image I attached. Again this is an image scanned from a print in 1996!

There's a higher res. version here. http://www.skylab.com.au/pmsa/ngc3372a.html

regards, Paul

[gaa_ian]

Absolutly stunning Brad !
Who would of thought it is a part of the Eta Carina region

[EzyStyles]

You have hubble in your backyard. That is a stunning pic Brad:eyepop: :eyepop:

[Octane]

Brad,

I am speechless.

What an incredible capture.

I am floored by the amount of time and effort you put into creating these masterpieces.

One day, I'd like to own equipment of the calibre you own! Throw in some skill, too. :)

Congratulations.

Regards,
Humayun

[Raydar]

Just trying to keep up with the terminology here.

Does "mapped colour image" basically mean a colour image taken with line filters?

[Striker]

Haha...I just saw gabriela......once you know what your looking at you can't miss it.

Not much of a chin though...lol

[vespine]

That's simply stunning..

[ving]

36 hours in one night? :eek:
;)

thats a stunner :)

[tornado33]

Fantastic shot. How long were the subexposures?. Do you find fewer very long subexposures, or shorter but more of them is best?
I see that SBIG camera is a self guided one. If so does the guiding chip have to "look through" the narrowband filters or can it see unfitered starlight?
Thanks.
Scott

[Brad Moore]

Hi Scott,

Thanks!

I have 1 hour subs for narrowband exposure.

Your shortest sub exposure should be set to a time that overcomes your cameras readout noise. For my setup it's about 45-50min with a narrowband filter, about 3mins for clear and 5mins for RGB. The darker your skies are the longer it takes to overcome readout noise.

You don't gain alot from longer sub exposure once you overcome readout noise.

http://www.starizona.com/ccd/advtheoryexp.htm

http://www.ccdware.com/resources/subexposure.cfm

Yes, the guider CCD is filtered also; I use 7 sec guided exposures.

Hope this helps,
Brad Moore