NGC4038/9 Reprocess by the Yowie

[David Fitz-Henr]

I had taken this data a couple of years ago with the 200mm (8") f/6.9 prototype Newtonian that I built prior to building my current 12.5" scope, and decided to reprocess the data to see how much I could improve on my original efforts. I've also decided to give that scope a name (Yowie) in keeping with the theme for my current scope (Bunyip)

There was a fair bit of noise in the data and very little green:
LRG(G)B - 2.5hrs Lum, 1hr Red, 1hr Blue, 30mins Green + R+G simulated Green. My starting point for the reprocessing was the combined (Mean) and aligned L,R,G,B .fit files.

Reprocessed Image:
http://upload.pbase.com/image/149282572

Original Effort:
http://www.pbase.com/david_fitz_henry/image/125961290

Thanks for looking.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Wow! That's very nice too. So that's your old 'test' scope? Looks like you're only building exceptional scopes. Maybe you can lay your hands on my C11 at the next astro meeting and infuse some of that awesomeness

[RobF (Rob)]

Love it David. Nailed it IMHO.
(edit - 1000hrs of extra data might of course help )

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Unacceptable David! Shocking!! You of all people!! Naming your scope in an arbitrary way like that. Please tell us that Y.O.W.I.E is in fact an anagramed acronym or something!

That's a nice repro mate - some excellent detail in there! Can't wait to see the B.U.N.Y.I.P. version!

Cheers, Marcus

[Peter.M]

I might be showing my age, or lack there of but all I could think of when I heard the name was those little chocolates with the toys in them!

[gregbradley]

Sweet shot David. Newt images have wonderful tiny stars in them which seems a hallmark of the Newt design for some reason.

Greg.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Wow that's looking fabulous, impeccable detail and nice colours too. Given the exposure times you've really captured a lot of faint stuff, impressive.
Only suggestion I could think of would be to perhaps boost the reds in the galaxy cores more towards light magenta, as I think these are actually bright emmission nebulae.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Wow! That's very nice too. So that's your old 'test' scope? Looks like you're only building exceptional scopes. Maybe you can lay your hands on my C11 at the next astro meeting and infuse some of that awesomeness

Thanks Marc; actually that scope has a cheap chinese mirror in it so it goes to show that you don't need ultra high quality optics to get good results (depending on pixel size vs resolution), although a flat field is critical.

Originally Posted by RobF

Love it David. Nailed it IMHO.
(edit - 1000hrs of extra data might of course help )

Thanks Rob; hard to get even 1000 seconds of clear skies lately

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Unacceptable David! Shocking!! You of all people!! Naming your scope in an arbitrary way like that. Please tell us that Y.O.W.I.E is in fact an anagramed acronym or something!

That's a nice repro mate - some excellent detail in there! Can't wait to see the B.U.N.Y.I.P. version!

Cheers, Marcus

Marcus, Marcus, I should have thought it obvious:

Experimental
ArchetYpal
non-Widefield
Optical
Imager

EYWOI --- anagram ---> YOWIE

If the weather ever improves I have this on my wish list for the Bunyip!

Originally Posted by Peter.M

I might be showing my age, or lack there of but all I could think of when I heard the name was those little chocolates with the toys in them!

Hmmm ... I remember those too ...

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Sweet shot David. Newt images have wonderful tiny stars in them which seems a hallmark of the Newt design for some reason.

Greg.

Thanks Greg!

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Wow that's looking fabulous, impeccable detail and nice colours too. Given the exposure times you've really captured a lot of faint stuff, impressive.
Only suggestion I could think of would be to perhaps boost the reds in the galaxy cores more towards light magenta, as I think these are actually bright emmission nebulae.

Thanks Rolf! I'm interested in your comment about the light magenta; I normally push the emission neb towards red and away from magenta. I'd be interested to hear what the general opinion is from everyone?

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

I...think...I've seeeeen this galaxy somewhere befooooore ...

Seriously though a worthwhile repro Dave... certainly the cores are nicely detailed ....not enough sparkling saturated colours though

Mike

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Lovely shot David.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

I...think...I've seeeeen this galaxy somewhere befooooore ...

Thanks Mike; quite possibly, it's been around for a long time

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Seriously though a worthwhile repro Dave... certainly the cores are nicely detailed
Mike

Yeah, the lack of good weather prompted me to reprocess some of my old data to keep in practice now that I seem to have a handle on galaxy processing.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

....not enough sparkling saturated colours though
Mike

This may be your monitor problem again - try calibrating it for Vegas mode

Originally Posted by peter_4059

Lovely shot David.

Thanks Peter.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

This may be your monitor problem again - try calibrating it for Vegas mode

...Elvis has left the building

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Lovely image, David!

[ourkind (Carlos)]

That's a wonderful image, so clear, crisp and well framed.

[Ross G]

Beautiful photos David.

I love the new version, but both are excellent.

Ross.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by Larryp

Lovely image, David!

Thanks Laurie!

Originally Posted by ourkind

That's a wonderful image, so clear, crisp and well framed.

Thanks Carlos!

Originally Posted by Ross G

Beautiful photos David.

I love the new version, but both are excellent.

Ross.

Thanks Ross!

[Octane (Humayun)]

This is so, so, very beautiful.

I love everything about it.

H