California Nebula mosaic completed (I think)

[Stevec35]

Here's the final version of the California nebula in hydrogen alpha. There are eight panels which is probably more than a skilled mosaic producer would have needed as I made some mistakes and was pretty generous with overlap. I think it would work really well as a narrow band image but this filter wheel unfortunately does not possess SII and OIII filters. I am going to try and get some RGB colour though.

Cheers

Steve

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/ngc1499_Maknewt_QSI.htm

[RickS]

Nice work, Steve! Must have taken a while.

[dvj]

Exceptional work. Seamless, and great high dynamic range. One of the best.

[Larryp]

Beautiful, Steve!

[Paul Haese]

Superb Ha data Steve. The detail is fantastic and a very 3D look to it.

[SkyViking]

Wow that's huge, beautiful result Steve, and very crisp and detailed.
I really hope you get the RGB for this, it'll look fantastic. Great work :)

[TheDecepticon]

Very nice work, mate. Loads of good detail. :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Thanks Graham



Thanks Rolf. Well I'm going to try but I can't guarantee the result



Thanks Paul



Thanks Larry



Thanks John. Coming from a guy of your Ha experience, that's high praise indeed.



Thanks Rick. Only about 2-3 weeks even allowing for the mistakes I made.

[John Hothersall]

Wow splendid work, this is a glorious nebula and one of the closest, it can supposedly be seen to naked eye with Hbeta filter. With RGB this will be stunning.

John.

[gregbradley]

Nice work Steve. A generous overlap in mosaics is quite helpful though so not necessarily a mistake.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Greg. The generous overlap came about through me miscalculating the telescope aim point a couple of times so that's why I called it a mistake.



Thanks John. RGB will probably take a bit longer than I thought as my access to the telescope will be a bit limited the next week or two.

[allan gould]

You have done that extremely well. A beautiful image.

[strongmanmike]

That's a very cool result Steve, given its striking appearance with good exposure, it doesn't seem to be imaged that much really...? Used to be a challenging object if I recal...nothing is out of range in this day and age of 50+ hr exposures huh?...bring back hypered film and manual eyeball guiding I say! :lol:

Mike

[Stevec35]

Thanks Mike. I certainly have seen very few images of it looking like this. Just shows what a lot of good data and a bit of HDR can do. When it is imaged I think it's mainly through telephoto lenses hence the lower resolution of most shots. I have a 50mm lens film shot of it taken from here somewhere. Must post it if I can find it.



Thanks Allan

[whzzz28]

Looks really nice.

Can't view the full version - internet's capped. Got one line of stars after a min. Will definitely take a gander once the net is back to full speed!

[Stevec35]

Thanks Nathan

[iceman]

Nice work Steve, lovely view. Colour coming?

[Stevec35]

Thanks Mike. Colour is coming but it might take a while.

Cheers

Steve

[marco]

A very detailed image Steve, it turned out great!
Cheers
Marco

[atalas]

Top work Steve!

[Stevec35]

Thanks Louie and Marco. Just started on the colour. That's going to take a while.

[multiweb]

Superb vista Steve. Really well done. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

Thanks Marc

[Peter Ward]

Gotta love h-alpha shots like this.

Scale, highlight & shadow. Looks like an artwork.

Excellent stuff :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Leonardo70]

Wow Steve, a pleasure to view this object.
I never shot. Great details.

All the best,
Leo

[Stevec35]

Thanks Leo and Peter. Got the first two colour panels last night so maybe a colour version will appear soon.

[Ross G]

A great photo Steve with amazing detail.

What an enormous effort.

Ross.

[Stevec35]

Thanks Ross. It's not as hard as it might look and it's still going on. I'm roughly half way through the colour.