A late M8... and M20 and NGC 6559 and...

[RickS]

I collected a lot of data on this target from inner suburban Brisbane a couple of months ago but it needed a couple of hours of good data from Leyburn to bring it to life. There's about 2.5 hours from Leyburn and 5.5 hours from home. If I'd had another hour or two of the good stuff I could probably have tossed all the Brisbane data away without losing anything...

Mount: Astro-Physics AP900
Scope: Tak FSQ-106ED
Camera: Sbig STL11K, Astrodon Gen 2 filters
Guiding: Tak FS-60C and Lodestar
Focuser: Atlas
Exposures: 54x300s Lum, 14x300s each R, G & B + some 30s subs
Processing: PixInsight

The copy uploaded to IIS suffered a lot from the compression required to get it down to 200Kb, so it's worth checking out the larger version here: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/2012-09/i-tx7GhK5/0/X3/M8etcLRGBv6amed-X3.jpg

Creative criticism welcomed as always. Thanks...

Cheers,
Rick.

[jjjnettie]

A cracking image Rick. :) There's so much to see and explore. Thanks for posting.

[Paul Haese]

Nice field of view Rick, with heaps of really cool things to check out and view. Maybe just a little too pink and cyan for my taste but each to their own. Looks very smooth though.

[alexandre]

Hello Rick !
It's a beautiful image !!
It's very nice !!: Thumbsup:

bye !
@lex

[RickS]

Thanks, JJJ!



Thanks, Paul. I agree the colours are not subtle :D It looks a touch less garish on my calibrated monitor.



Thanks, Alex.

[multiweb]

That is superb Rick. One for the cool wall. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Larryp]

Superb image, Rick!

[TheDecepticon]

What a great shot! :thumbsup:

Agree with Paul re the pink, though.:D

[allan gould]

I like the area around 6559 and prefer it to that of M8 as there is just so much going on in that area. A nice image Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks, Marc & Laurie!



Thanks, Gray. It is a bit over the top, I suppose :lol:



Thanks, Allan. I'll spend some time on 6559 at a longer FL one of these days. I've seen some lovely images of it and, as you say, it's a fascinating area!

[gregbradley]

Thats really a great image Rick.

Well done.

Greg.

[whzzz28]

Excellent image Rick.

Maybe its just me but looks a bit over-saturated. Personal taste i guess.

I really need to get back out to a dark site. Will see about new moon next weekend - maybe Pete's place will be open :D

[atalas]

Nice work Rick.

[marc4darkskies]

That's a classy image Rick! Great composition and depth and good colour too. Nice work.

How about the full res version?

Cheers, Marcus

[cventer]

Awesome image.

Is that a mosaic or is that the native fov for that camera and FSQ combo.

[RickS]

Thanks, Greg!



Thanks, Nathan. You could be right. I'm never quite sure where to stop. I may develop better taste with more practice, but maybe not ;)



Thanks, Louie.



Thanks, Marcus! Full res is here if you're interested: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/HighRes/25737836_fng8qc#!i=2128253675&k=Sm3LZd6&lb=1&s=O





Thanks! It's the native FOV of about 233 x 156 arc mins.

[RobF]

Top stuff Rick. :thumbsup:

"Moderately amazing"! :D

[ourkind]

Wow! Gorgeous!

[marc4darkskies]

Always interested to see full res!! Looks great! Very nicely processed Rick!

Cheers, Marcus

[ozstronomer]

Thats a great shot Rick, nice FOV with plenty of depth. :thumbsup:

Imaging in the suburbs is good, but there's nothing like dark skies to bring out the detail in these images.

[Stevec35]

Nice one Rick. The resolution and composition is great. I would think about toning down the cyan a bit though.

Cheers

Steve

[Ross G]

Great photo Rick.

The colour, detail and contrasts are amazing.

Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob. Good to see you're keeping some superlatives in reserve in case of future improvement :lol:



Thank you, Carlos!



Thanks, Marcus. My processing is definitely getting better but still plenty of room for improvement!



Thanks, Geoff. It's so much easier to process dark sky data, that's for sure.



You're probably right, thanks Steve. A few people found it a bit oversaturated. I think the same when I look at it on my laptop but I think it looks fine on my lovely big calibrated NEC monitor.



Thanks, Ross!

[iceman]

Stunning image, Rick!

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike!

[MortonH]

My daughter would love it!!! :D