[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

That's a beauty Marc! nice work mate, love the sharp field, M78 looks pretty schmick!

Mike

Thanks Mike. It's a cool object. Faint though but interesting in wide field. Never got a good one in the past but now I have a new toy to put some hours on it.

Originally Posted by Leonardo70

Very nice Marc. Congrats.
Noise coming also from a green cast, try to reduce them.

All the best,
Leo

Thanks Leo. I know there seems to be an aversion to green in the astro community and there is even a Photoshop plugin for the 'green haters' called HLVG but the skies that this was taken under were inky black with no LP in a 100km radius. So I'm pretty confident the colors are close to what it looks like in reality. Those two blue reflection nebs in the middle are not true blue. The bottom is cyan while the other is a little more of a mustard color. They are also embedded into some pretty thick brown dust and the red cast from the barnard loop to the north (left of the field).

I agree that the colors could do with a little more saturation but I'd need a lot more integration time to push the data which is on my list to do. That said I'm happy with the color balance as is. I'm not a fan of red and blue pictures. You'll see green in the core of my tarantulas or orion sword as well. It's there. Just personal processing preference.
'

Originally Posted by Placidus

Hi, Marc, You've answered my silly question about Barnard's Loop.
Fine sharp detail in the darkest dust toward bottom right. Definitely the head of a startled black-faced weasel-like creature with two glowing orange eyes. Love it.

Thanks Mike. Glad you like it. I had a ball imaging. Thanks again for everything.

Originally Posted by RickS

Nice details, Marc, and quite low noise for the amount of time you spent on it. Well done! Some images of this object show a lot more blue/reflection neb. I wonder if they exaggerate this feature?

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick. Still a lot of noise but limited time to image and a lot of other DSOs to try that week-end. So that's ADHD imaging for you.
Yes colors all come down to personal preference. Although as mentioned previously with Leo, the color balance was done by the numbers and the site was free of any LP.

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking M78 photo Marc.

Very sharp with nice colour.

I really like the composition.

Good to see you back imaging DSOs. Your work has been missed.

Ross.

Thanks Ross. That was the first imaging session for me since Border Stargaze last year in October. Bit rusted but I enjoyed being out again.
Now I definitely have to fit the Sharskypro focusing motor to the FSQ. I did the focusing with my fingers and a bathinov mask. It's close but it doesn't take much to be out on the FSQ. Especially with a 1:1 focuser know and a thick thumb.