Wha? TWO COMPLETELY CLEAR AND STILL NIGHTS in a row in Newcastle?
.....Woohooooooooo
Not sure about most of you guys but I haven't seen an image of this bit of the Vela SNR before that wasn't a part of a much wider field view..? Heck, I don't even know the catelogue number of anything in the frame
It proved to be quite a challenge to record but I picked it not only because it is seldom imaged but because it is a lovely mix of stuff - emission nebula, refection nebula, double helix shaped flouresent shock wave, dark nebulae and some sparkling stars too.
I did do 120min of Halpha but the region proved pretty faint in Ha thus I found even this amount of data didn't really enhance the image and did little for a final LHaRGB in fact it only added noise really (longer Ha subs - I did only 10min subs - would have been better probably?) so I decided to drop it from the colour combo altogether leaving the final colour image as an LRGB mix. This was dissapointing, not to mention a waste of a few hours worth of stuffing around for a guy who is portable doh! grrrrr... but the good thing about imaging an area of faint stuff is that very little ddp is necessary to bring out the dynamic:
Smaller frame (1.6meg) to fit on your screen better
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...86111/original
Larger frame for surfing:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...87101/original
Here are some close-up crops to simulate longer FL on the more interesting sections:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...88906/original
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...89036/original
and here is the Lum + Halpha only version (I love the sentimentality of B&W
)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...73874/original
enjoy
Mike
ps. I have a set of just released ultra low reflection Astronomiks Ha OIII SII filters coming next week...so look out! Mike will be doing green and yellow goopy images too then
a new set of ulta low reflection LRGB filters will follow soon after too, so hopefully those pesky little halos around stars will be a thing of the past....?