After having high hopes for last Saturday night after a lovely clear day, the clouds started to move in as I finished polar alignment. Despite the conditions I imaged anyway with Maxim beeping plaintively to complain of lost guide stars.
It cleared up around midnight and I awoke to find the data wasn't a complete disaster (thanks to ACP for looking after things while I got some shuteye). I'm not unhappy with the results although some may think my processing a little over the top. I'm still wondering if I went a bit too far myself
This was my first outing to dark skies with the Ceravolo 300 Astrograph and I'd have to call it a success since I came home with an image. With the weather we've been having in SE Qld that's no mean feat.
One of my favourite areas on the night sky. What I like is your detail and smooth background. Perhaps a little too much cyan and the orange stars have a little too much cyan in my opinion. Other than that the image looks good. Besides you can always add more data to it and improve the colour.
I will offer that this scope in your hands has great potential! I had a chance to test a prototype a few years ago and was very impressed with its simple and elegant approach to design and collimation. Looking forward to more images.
Rick, the difference between the first cut you did up here at 10Chain and the images you've posted is dramatic. I see how well you have brought out those fringing blues, the dark dust lanes and those intense bands of hydrogen - demonstrating why this region is on so many 'favourite' lists. Well done.
One of my favourite areas on the night sky. What I like is your detail and smooth background. Perhaps a little too much cyan and the orange stars have a little too much cyan in my opinion. Other than that the image looks good. Besides you can always add more data to it and improve the colour.
Thanks, Paul!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dvj
I will offer that this scope in your hands has great potential! I had a chance to test a prototype a few years ago and was very impressed with its simple and elegant approach to design and collimation. Looking forward to more images.
Thanks, John. It is a lovely piece of gear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid
Rick, the difference between the first cut you did up here at 10Chain and the images you've posted is dramatic. I see how well you have brought out those fringing blues, the dark dust lanes and those intense bands of hydrogen - demonstrating why this region is on so many 'favourite' lists. Well done.
Thanks, Peter. I'm very happy with what I've squeezed out of the Luminance. Now I just need to get the colour right.
Thanks, Geoff. Hope you got some nice data up at Crows Nest.
The white clipping of the blue and red that Marc noticed is proving interesting to figure out. It's mostly "caused" by the conversion to sRGB that I do at the end of my processing. I guess it's an out of gamut thing. Looks like I have some more work to do to figure out the best way to deal with this...
Wish I could have been there to see the gear in use.
Colours a little too technicolour for my taste Rick, but no doubting there's quality data in there. Wondeful shots for your efforts.
Beautiful effort, Rick! The reds/pinks/purples/golds look fantastic... but the cyan is certainly new That's some serious photon gathering kit How is the Neumann Camera Tilting Unit working out?
There were some interesting things happening in the processing of the colour data that I still need to figure out. I had to desaturate a couple of times (reduce CIE c* with curves) to prevent white clipping the red and blue channels when I converted to sRGB. Perhaps NGC6559 should be called the out-of-gamut nebula
Quote:
Originally Posted by naskies
Beautiful effort, Rick! The reds/pinks/purples/golds look fantastic... but the cyan is certainly new That's some serious photon gathering kit How is the Neumann Camera Tilting Unit working out?
Thanks, Dave. I'm hoping the gear will work even better on a good night! I haven't made much progress with the CTU. I managed to damage one of the adjustment screws using a ball head allan key at an odd angle so I had to wait for a replacement. It arrived yesterday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjjnettie
I simply love this region of the sky. Looking forward very much to seeing the repro.
Thanks, JJJ! Hope you like it! I'm very fond of this area as well. So much cool stuff. I'll probably try again at 2700mm when I get a chance.
Unreal & spectacular capturing Rick Dig the colours, and amaizing details, a facinating area of sky, must make note of this target, I like it !
Great work & show
You've got to be happy with that! Great detail and natural colour. Very nicely done Rick!
Cheers, Marcus
Thank you, Marcus. The scope is working well. I just need to keep working on the processing skills!
Quote:
Originally Posted by astronobob
Unreal & spectacular capturing Rick Dig the colours, and amaizing details, a facinating area of sky, must make note of this target, I like it !
Great work & show
Thanks, Bob. Would love to see what you can do with this target too!
I'm working to tone it down to almost tasteful levels.
That's some serious photon gathering kit 
How is the Neumann Camera Tilting Unit working out?
Dig the colours, and amaizing details, a facinating area of sky, must make note of this target, I like it !
