Dark Doodad Mosaic

[Paul Haese]

This image is a two panel mosaic taken over the last couple of nights.

Long on my list of things to image and a request from one of our society life members moved it further up the list.

The globular cluster is NGC4372. It is around 10" in diameter. The dark doodad is a stellar nursery which is probably the closest to Earth. It was first coined thhe dark doodad by Dennis di Cicco in 1988. It is a really cool looking object and quite dusty.

Click here for image.

Comments welcome.

Edit - just for those that love resolution I have attached a crop of the globular at full resolution. I think you will agree the stars are nicely resolved.

[astroron (Ron)]

Nice image, your pic really gives one the real shape of it
In the scope it is too large to get the overall shape.
Cheers

[mill (Martin)]

Love the contrast between the cluster and the bright blue star and the doodad.
Nicely done.

[TrevorW]

Have to agree there

Cheers

[iceman (Mike)]

Really nice Paul. Can you get rid of the satellite trail? It's the only distracting thing..

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys.

I have included a full res crop of the globular.

Mike, only one way to rid those is to do lots and lots more subs to eradicate them. I might have to sort this in the coming month. I am not overly fussed by the trails but it might be nicer if removed.

[Rigel003 (Graeme)]

That came out really well Paul, and you got the whole hockey stick bit in the frame. I didn't realise you'd put so much time into those subs. The glow around the bright blue star looks definitely like there was a a bit of thin cloud at some stage.

[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by Rigel003

That came out really well Paul, and you got the whole hockey stick bit in the frame. I didn't realise you'd put so much time into those subs. The glow around the bright blue star looks definitely like there was a a bit of thin cloud at some stage.

Thanks Graeme. The figures are a bit misleading. One panel has 60 30 30 35. The other has 50 25 25 30. I figure the amounts could be combined together.

I did several focus runs last night for the second panel and slept in between each run. I was getting a little tired after our previous nights efforts. Focus did not shift from about 12pm last night.

The mosaic could do with another two panels directly underneath these two. It would show the little bit I missed. Maybe in the coming months.

No cloud last night and the halo is present, so it is most likely a minor reflection coming off an internal surface. I took an extra 3 subs in the blue and each of these have the same minor halo. It is not too distracting though. I sort of like the effect.

[Rigel003 (Graeme)]

Oh I'm getting my nights mixed up. You took the 2nd panel last night!
Well amazingly the forecast is for sunny all week so plenty of opportunity to get the extra two.

[Peter Ward]

Damm your pristine clear skies

Nice one

[atalas]

Nice work Paul,looks great! Oh,AA5 has a new cosmetic filter called "Line Filter"does a great job in removing these satellite trails...no artifacts that I can see remaining.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Nice Paul. I love the contrast between the globular and the dark nebula.

Cheers

Steve

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Paul.

Sharp and detailed.

I love the rich colours and composition.

Thanks.

Ross.

[allan gould]

Beautiful mosaic with the Takahashi. That scope really delivers exquisite detail.

[gregbradley]

That's a great image Paul. I think these widefield scopes really sing with Mosaic shots.

Greg.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Eeek there seems to be a large dark smudge on your CCD window Paul

Yes I like the close crop...I see a star fish in there

Very nice result I had that on my possibles list for the AG12 if I get to dark skies soon and your image has strengthened its chances.

Mike

[Tandum (Robin)]

Paul, how do you combine the subs? If I use sdmask, tails from aircraft don't show up in the result.

Nice image.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very smooth Paul. Love the resolution and the colors you've got in the whole field. Very nicely done. One I'd like to image as well. On my list to-do.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

That's looking very nice Paul, some great colours and an interesting field as usual. I'm always looking forward to your images

[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Damm your pristine clear skies

Nice one

Not pristine enough to do planetary imaging though. Seeing was good but not good enough for planetary work.

Originally Posted by atalas

Nice work Paul,looks great! Oh,AA5 has a new cosmetic filter called "Line Filter"does a great job in removing these satellite trails...no artifacts that I can see remaining.

I'm using CCDstack and previously the data rejection has elminated the trails. This is one of the last Lum subs, it got rid of the other parts of the trails but not here. I will play with the settings and see where it has failed.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Eeek there seems to be a large dark smudge on your CCD window Paul

Yes I like the close crop...I see a star fish in there

Very nice result I had that on my possibles list for the AG12 if I get to dark skies soon and your image has strengthened its chances.

Mike

Yes your field of view would gobble this up nicely Mike. I am really happy about the result, there is something quite nice about dark dust and other celestial objects in the field.

Originally Posted by Tandum

Paul, how do you combine the subs? If I use sdmask, tails from aircraft don't show up in the result.

Nice image.

I use median combine in CCDstack. Usually it works quite well but I suspect there is a fault in the setting I used.

Thanks everyone else for the replies. Proof positive I put the mount back together correctly I would say. Looking forward to my next mosaic now.