Work In Progress Dummy - LHa only

[marc4darkskies]

I've been working on this since 2010. Last year was a write off weather wise so I wasn't able to add any data. So far this season I've only added 2.5 hrs of Ha on top of 3 hrs of Lum. The low altitude from Sydney makes this a very tough target. The conditions with seeing and transparancy need to be at their best to get even a reasonable result at 25 to 34 deg altitude!!

Anyway, still very much a work in progress and, with limited data, quite tough to process. I'm pretty happy so far though, given you can now see the faint outer extensions :)

Large:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/128390378/original

I'll need 6 hours total of RGB and another couple of hours Ha before I finish.

Cheers, Marcus

PS: the 2010 Lum data and 2012 Ha data were done at slightly different rotations (10 deg or so) ... the eagled eyed may notice the result, but I'll be able to address this when I get more data.

[gregbradley]

Remarkable resolution Marcus. Very impressive.

It looks more like what I got on my CDK17 a while ago, albeit in less time.

Your TOA150 setup really sings.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Greg. Alas, I had to throw away quite a few subs and deconvolve to achieve this result. Thankfully too, when I did the Lum back in 2010 the seeing was very reasonable (for that elevation).

I guess it's a pretty boring image without colour but the Ha made it pop and I think under the circumstances the detail I've extracted with a 6" scope is pretty good. I think the final colour result will be respectable.

I wouldn't normally image at this low altitude, but it's one of those objects I've wanted to image since I was a kid. :)

[RickS]

Good to see the very faint stuff showing, Marcus!

Cheers,
Rick.

[sjastro]

A great image Marcus.

I find monochrome Ha images are generally more spectacular than the colour variety.

Clear skies

Steven

[strongmanmike]

Well this looks pretty good to me Marcus, well worth persevering with and completing IMO. There is plenty of outer halo starting to show through.

Mike

[Stevec35]

You are definitely heading in the right direction with that Marcus. The colour should be spectacular.

Cheers

Steve

[marc4darkskies]

Yes, given it's so low I was pleased I was able to see the faint stuff. I'd have given up on it if I hadn't.



Thanks Steven - I think it's shaping up. The colour version will better though! ;)



Thanks Mike. Definitely worth keeping at it. What I didn't say above was that to get 2.5 hours of usable Ha I spent 7 nights trying!!!:eyepop: (hmmm ... that's almost embarrassing!). Getting good enough conditions for luminance / Ha is hard at that altitude! :mad2: Should be a bit easier with RGB though.



Cheers Steve! Yes, the colour of this object is something else if it's done properly. I hope the conditions allow me to gather some RGB this year!

[strongmanmike]

Well as long as you didn't want to use your RGB as a Syth Lum it can be pretty crappy really and still produce a good final LHaRGB, so I wouldn't worry about that :)

[Ross G]

Hi Marcus,

Amazing detail.

A great looking monochrome photo...who needs colour!


Ross.

[marc4darkskies]

Nope, no way at that altitude ... unless I had freakishly good conditions for a couple of nights in a row. Chances of that ... NIL!



Thanks a lot Ross! Yep, given this object is only around 6 to 7 arcmins across I'm pretty happy with the detail ... thanks to the Ha data!

Unfortunately though, I need colour ... I crave colour ...... I worship colour! :prey2: ;)

[strongmanmike]

Marcus dressed to image :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Hehe ... "Yeah baby!"