After what seems like bluddy ages since my last image, I thought a nice object with a bit of fireworks about it would be appropriate to bring in the New Year so I stared at a small piece of the large Vela Supernova remnant for some 6 hours or so on Wed/Thur night. While most people were drunk and/or looking at real fireworks (I did manage a 6 pack and a couple'a glasses of wine throughout my imaging night though ) I, and I am sure many on this forum, was bringing in the IYA very appropriately
Would have been better with more exposure (as always!) so I didn't use any sharpening in this image, this is the native resolution provided by the scope, camera and conditions.
although some fog rolled in and out from about 3am (large 7acre dam nearby) but didn't hamper the imaging too much, not sure how it will be in winter though:
Yes happy new year there big fella!!
Our band had a late one on the night, ah morning I should say but managed to pull my carcass off the lounge on the 1st to get a last bit of colour to my M78.
Clearish and blowing it's guts out, typical
Man this is a great start to the year for you Migel!
Shizen, that field is sooooo big with so much to see.
Looks great on my 24" Dell I must say.
This is one hell of an extensive object that small chipped folk like me still dream about even with a 60c..
Very impressive.
Hope this year will see you able to get out more than last.
Thanks for sharing your, well, almost sober evening out.
I'm working on some lum on Herschells Ray at the mo but don't hold no candle on this
Stunning image, Mike. The new location looks great too. Where abouts is it?
Bob and Pat should be congratulated
You also must've been busy to take and process and present that image in only 2 days.. you must've rushed the processing.. Surely there's a repro coming in the next week or so..
If you haven't the patience or band width to down load the full res version, try these under 1meg crops of the interesting bits in the original full frame full res image, like having several telescopes really:
Looks a little too blue on my laptop screen (Which is not 21 or 22"). Did you do this to accentuate the different colours of the SNR? Not saying it's bad or anything, just different.
This is taken with your still relatively new camera isn't it? You certainly seem to have mastered that beastie. I just want enough clear nights to complete an NGC1532 image I've started.
Unusual target captured very well Mike ... although I too think it's a little strong on the background blue ... not a criticism just a matter of opinion.
Happy New Year !
Yes happy new year there big fella!!
Our band had a late one on the night, ah morning I should say but managed to pull my carcass off the lounge on the 1st to get a last bit of colour to my M78.
Clearish and blowing it's guts out, typical
Man this is a great start to the year for you Migel!
Shizen, that field is sooooo big with so much to see.
Looks great on my 24" Dell I must say.
This is one hell of an extensive object that small chipped folk like me still dream about even with a 60c..
Very impressive.
Hope this year will see you able to get out more than last.
Thanks for sharing your, well, almost sober evening out.
I'm working on some lum on Herschells Ray at the mo but don't hold no candle on this
All the best for now
Rich
Thanks Richard glad you liked it
WE have similar frustrations it seems? Think we need to move inland a bit further
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
Stunning image, Mike. The new location looks great too. Where abouts is it?
Bob and Pat should be congratulated
You also must've been busy to take and process and present that image in only 2 days.. you must've rushed the processing.. Surely there's a repro coming in the next week or so..
Yes nice spot some 6km North West of Kurri Kurri, not as dark as Wiruna but much better than Newcastle city suburbs and still convenient(ish) so I can get there on a Friday after work and setup before dark and have two days available without taking leave...still a pain packing, seting-up, pulling down, loading car, unpacking car, drying out dew, putting away.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by rat156
Hi Mike,
Yes, very nice indeed.
Looks a little too blue on my laptop screen (Which is not 21 or 22"). Did you do this to accentuate the different colours of the SNR? Not saying it's bad or anything, just different.
This is taken with your still relatively new camera isn't it? You certainly seem to have mastered that beastie. I just want enough clear nights to complete an NGC1532 image I've started.
Cheers
Stuart
Dunno Stu, seems I like the blue glow/misty look it created, seemd to fit the region better than other settings of levels and colour balance..? My processing is like cooking from scratch ie I do it very much by feel, I am very untechnical in my processing approach compared to some. I add a bit of this, stand back, chop a bit of that, taste, blend a bit of that, stand back, stir, taste, blend again then bring to boil, taste again....and voila!
I have been using the big black FLI Proline 11002 for over a year and a half now and it really is a great easy to use beast. On new years eve it was stiull 22 degC at 9.00pm and the camera slammed down to -35C in a few minutes and held it there all night without budging with no buckets, pumps and tubes etc . The raw images are very clean at -35C for a KAI chip and calibrate perfectly with a set of darks and flat darks I took over a year ago now (I pretty much only use 10min exp)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinker
Excellent picture Mike, tonnes of detail to get lost in.
I only found out about this SNR a few weeks ago, it's a biggy, suits your camera nicely!
Do you have the coordinates of where you centred you shots? Trying to work out the best way to shoot this one too.
Good start to '09
Joe
Hi Joe, I knew roughly were the region was, pointed at the area then slewed around at bin 3X3 for a bit rotating the camera until I framed it just the way I liked it...it's in Vela, does that help?
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Looks great Mike! Way to go. That's a huge field for sure. Did you do a mosaic?
No moazaic Marc, thi is the native 1.8deg X 1.2deg FOV very tiny amount of cropping after registration of channels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassnut
Gee, thanks for the custom zoom ins Mike, much appreciated .
Very nice ofcourse, and even better close up, but the levels are all over the place .
Im guessing you do that on purpose for that soft natural look, with a sight blue background, and it works quite well, but you lose a bit of punch.
This tweak was simply level shift to the start of each histogram curve. Its very subjective of course, cant say its "better".
Come to think of it, the way you handle levels seems to have worked to advantage in this case
Yep, always thinking of my mate Freddo
Yeh, like I said to Stuart, I work until I'm happy with it and then let it be (well until the occassional repro seems necessary ). I did various tweeks like yours but didn't like them, I like the soft natural glow revealing the blue gives the region, seems to fit an old tenuous supernova superimpossed on other emission and refection nebulosity to me..?
Also depends on your moniter and room lighting, right now in a semi naturally lit room it looks ok to me..? Your eyes change too...boody crazy really. As you saw at the Sydney Observatory, it is in the "printing" that it truly counts in the end though...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
Nicely done Mike.
Not teaching you how to suck eggs, but have you used CS3's "save for web and devices" option?
Makes .jpg files much smaller. Even at very high quality, your full res image saves down to 3.9 meg.
Cheers
No worries Peter, cheers, only just found out about that function yesterday on the ASNSW imaging list will use it in future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil
If you don't mind i downloaded the photo and set it as my desktop.
Love it.
Phil
Ah, that will be..?..$3.95...thanks. or a working 12" F3.8 astrograph will suffice instead if you are short of cash?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RB
Beautiful work Mike, lovely colours and detail.
The new location looks like a beautiful place too.
HNY.
Yahsu Andrew
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hagar
Very nice very fine filaments in this area captured very nicely.
Yes Doug they are beautiful, a faster bigger aperture and true dark skies would be great!
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluescope
Unusual target captured very well Mike ... although I too think it's a little strong on the background blue ... not a criticism just a matter of opinion.
Happy New Year !
No worries Steve I tried other combo's but kept coming back to the soft natural blue glow..? perhaps I have gone blue raving ...?
Ah , very nice Mike! totally enjoyed it! Well worth staying up NYE to do!
Beautiful clear sky here as well but all I could do was a star trail!
cheers
So gald you enjoyed it Gazza, going through the rigmaroll I have to, getting a beautiful region like this and processing it to do it justice is hard but rerwarding when you get it right (well basically)
Excellent stuff Mike you were a busy boy then, and the fireworks you have captured certainly out shines the others that only last a few seconds, well done indeed.
Well errr...'bout time Mike. At first glance I thought this could have be another repro. I think we're all pleased it isn't. Have to agree with Stuart and Fred, blue cast does nothing but reduce the emphasis on the delicate Ha tendrils you've worked hard to acquire. Its almost as though you've use the Veil nebula as a colour reference. Though Gendler's mega mosaic of the region does display some blue hues, but these are the finer details not the background. Still, if YOU like it, thats all that counts mate...but don't stop now, how about a mosaic of the area? Good to see you make a grand entrance to 2009, hope to see some killer images in the near future - need to keep the momentum up. All the best to you and your family for 2009 too.
Cheers
Last edited by jase; 03-01-2009 at 04:57 PM.
Reason: typo
Excellent stuff Mike you were a busy boy then, and the fireworks you have captured certainly out shines the others that only last a few seconds, well done indeed.
Leon
Cheers Leo
Had a nice time at the property actually, drinking beer while recording 10 000 year old photons - ahhh...hic!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
Well errr...'bout time Mike. At first glance I thought this could have be another repro. I think we're all pleased it isn't. Have to agree with Stuart and Fred, blue cast does nothing but reduce the emphasis on the delicate Ha tendrils you've worked hard to acquire. Its almost as though you've use the Veil nebula as a colour reference. Though Gendler's mega mosaic of the region does display some blue hues, but these are the finer details not the background. Still, if YOU like it, thats all that counts mate...but don't stop now, how about a mosaic of the area? Good to see you make a grand entrance to 2009, hope to see some killer images in the near future - need to keep the momentum up. All the best to you and your family for 2009 too.
Cheers
Thanks Jase
After using fresh daytime eyes - was processing the image until 3.30am or so I agree with you guys (thanks again) the light blue cast was a bit too overpowering so I have removed some of it, tweeked and tried to keep the emphasis on the HII and OIII tendrils - cheers and have another look
Yes a mozaic would be grand (couldn't top Gendlers Michelangelo like effort but unless I get out a few times in the next few months no cigar I'm affraid
I am hoping the more accessable dark skies will encorage me to image more
(I did manage a 6 pack and a couple'a glasses of wine throughout my imaging night though 
) I, and I am sure many on this forum, was bringing in the IYA very appropriately 
...? 
I agree with you guys (thanks again) the light blue cast was a bit too overpowering so I have removed some of it, tweeked and tried to keep the emphasis on the HII and OIII tendrils - cheers and have another look 
