Dark Tower (Scorpius) - challenging myself

[troypiggo]

Haven't seen this imaged very often, so I figured it must be a tough target. Wanted to push my gear, capabilities, and site conditions to the limit, so decided to give it a go.

By the way, does anyone know of a catalogue or ID for this thing? I've only seen it referred to as "Dark Tower", but no NGC/IC/RCW numbers etc.

Shot over the last couple of nights from home, inner Brisbane. Testing out the Astrodon 5nm Ha filter, I pushed subs out to 20mins each. I think the EQ6 with little finder guider handled it quite well. Probably not quite the ideal image scale, and would probably suit the 10" better, but just loving the little TMB92SS at the moment.

I will definitely try reprocessing this one. Might be a bit too saturated for some tastes, and the stars to be don't look saturated enough to me compared to the nebulosity. Think it's in my balancing of the Ha and RGB still.

It's just (HaR)GB, no Luminance. Ha was 10x20mins, RGB was 8x5mins each, so nearly 5.5 hours all up. Longest I've ever put into one image I think.

Any critique/comments/suggestions greatly appreciated.

[peter_4059]

Looks like a tough target. Bit too red for me however I've got no HaRGB experience!

[ozstronomer]

Guiding looks great Troy, not sure about the red, maybe a little saturated as you mentioned.

I'd be interested to see the Ha on its own

[Nico13]

Hey Troy,
Not a bad shot.:thumbsup:
Looks a bit like the space schuttle about to burst through the clouds with its running lights on.:P

[multiweb]

Very cool details and beaute field. :thumbsup: Did you use that PI Ha blend?

[troypiggo]

Thanks guys. I'm sure the data is there but my processing first go has let it down. Will try again tomorrow. Was a bit tired from 2 late nights snd work days, probably posted z bit prematurely.

Geoff: will post maybe the Ha and RGB images tomorrow.

Marc: yes, used the Ha combo script, but was also playing around with a lot, too many, other little methods/tools to get what I wanted. Bit of a blue now. I might summaries the how's and what's when I repro.

Edit: holy cow typing on iPhone when tired makes for messy crap writing. Sorry. Lol

[RobF]

Sounds like a hard one Troy.
Age old dilemma - process while tired and post prematurely, or have a go next day with windows open (I always get my processing too dark or light if do it during the day!). So hard to just sit on exciting data for a night or two waiting for "quiet time'.

[Ross G]

A great capture Troy.

Looks good.

Ross.

[allan gould]

Excellent image Troy under tough circumstances. Like to see the RGB and Ha separately.

[RickS]

It's very red, Troy, but an interesting image!

[jjjnettie]

Very funky Troy.

[Nortilus]

very beautiful...great job

[SkyViking]

A nice mysterious look I think. Maybe as you say a tad too red, and stars could be more saturated, but still good. It'd be interesting to see what a repro could tease out of this data.