M8 - Lagoooooooon

[stevous67]

Hi All,

Just if anyone is interested in the combination, I've got a new version of M8 to see. I've been working to try to get all techniques under control, but its a never ending journey! But I love the challenge!

Instrument: Planewave CDK 12.5 / Focal Ratio: F8
Camera: STL-11000 + MOAG + AOL
Camera Sensitivity: Ha BIN 1x1, L BIN 1x1, RGB BIN 2X2
Exposure Details: 7 hours: Ha 9 x 1200sec, Lum 5 x 600sec, RGB 8 x 480sec
Mount: AP900GTO
Autoguider: SBIG Remote Head
Date: 23 June 2012
Viewing Location: Heathcote, Victoria.
Software Enchancements: CCDStack2, PS CS3, Pixinsight
Comments: Clear Night, Very good Conditions
Seeing conditions: 8/10

Medium (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2219&g2_serialNumber=10)
Full (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2216&g2_serialNumber=6)

I haven't followed the pack on colours, but the colours that have resulted from the processing.

Bye now,

Steve



Post Extras: * * *

[RickS]

Some great detail there, Steve! I like the colours too.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Rigel003]

That's a stunner, Steve! Beautiful detail and texture throughout.

[alpal]

That is so nice.
The standards are just getting higher & higher.

[strongmanmike]

Sensational image Steve, bordering on breathtaking even, nothing wrong with the colours to me, love it :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

You nailed that one. Perfect.

Greg.

[MrB]

That is awesome Steve.
And I have gear envy!

[Varangian]

That is as good as I have seen. How do you guys get these sorts of images!

Very impressive, a real work of art, you should be proud.

[Paul Haese]

A very nice piece of work, some minor noise related issues in the darker areas but nothing to bark too much about. I really like the detail in the nebula and the way in which you have blended the Ha data to the rest of the data.

[jsmoraes]

Very beautiful photo. Congratulations. Many details of the clouds in center of nebula. I liked it very much ! Well visible hourglass nebula, too

[Ross G]

That is one sharp, detailed photo Steve.

Looks amazing!

Great colours too.

Ross.

[Peter.M]

The detail in this image is amazing, i love it.

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Pretty awesome. Great image scale. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[stevous67]

Thanks a lot everyone for the comments!!! They are all greatly appreciated.

It took me a long time to save up for this equipment; I'm very happy with it.

Some have kindly commented on some potential problems, some suggested fixes, with the main problem of a sneaky tilt somewhere has eluded me so far. May be at the camera? I'm not sure how to measure this kind of error, or to figure out where or how much it is? I have CCDInspector, but the results confuse me as they float about from image to image. My original documentation from SBIG suggested a tilt, an amount and the position was in my paperwork. Maybe I should just start there and shim it by the suggested amount? I cannot collimate it out. The error is sometimes very noticeable, and possibly enhanced by a particular camera angle.

Any way, I like working at challenges like this, it makes the hobby interesting. I'm also listening to friends to move away from the eyeball and hairy arm method for focusing (as described by p ward), to FocusMax. I can already see focusing this way is a better approach with only four V curves done. I did a comparison where I achieved my focus to FWHM 3.20 (CCDInspector) by hand, and within 179sec after with FocusMax to 2.28FWHM. I did the test twice afterwards and had similar differences. So that convinced me. I just need more V curves apparently.

I'll work at the tilt, it may just take some time to figure it out.

Cheers all,

Steve :thanx:

[Rex]

Nice Steve.

[batema]

Beautiful image Steve and an equally impressive image I would love to see from you would be one of your imaging set up. It must look fantastic and you must love it. A great shot. To have equipment like that :)

[atalas]

Love It! fantastic Steve!wonderful detail and color.

[whzzz28]

The detail is great, really is a good pic.
But, i noticed your blacks are very black.
This is probably a personal thing but i find pure blacks in astro images to be a little off-putting.
Had a look at the image and noticed the color levels to be between 1-5 (0 being pure black).

Did you clip much data when processing the image?

Anyway, minor gripe of mine, otherwise the image really is good!

[RobF]

Whoa - that's hit for six that one! :thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Thats a stand out image that really does it for me.

[Tandum]

I like this one too Steve :thumbsup:

[ChrisM]

Steve,

That's a fantastic image - I love the sharp contrast and colours. You must be pretty happy with your gear!
Chris

[stevous67]

Thanks again for the comments!

Nathan, you are right, it was a personal taste exercise with the dark regions to move them into the blacks [not the space regions though, just those dusty sections], and this was achieved with targeted contrast adjustments.

I can also be charged with over cooking colours too.

Thanks again,

Steve

[Leonardo70]

Fantastic image also for me ... congrats

All the best,
Leo

[strongmanmike]

Cooookkkkiiiing...mmmmmmmm

Came back for another look, t'is great work :thumbsup:

Mike

[marco]

Wow Steve, what a dramatic rendition of the lagoon :eyepop:
Congratulation, one of the most stunning views i had a chance to see of it :thumbsup:
Clear skies
Marco

[cventer]

No much more to be said than has not already. Superb.

I love the subtle color pallet. Has good contrast. Well done.
Heck of a job carting all that gear to heathcote, or is this in a permanent setup ?