m78

[Dave882 (David)]

This is a bit of a combo of data taken over the last few months. I had, until last week, been at a complete stalemate with it - really not happy with how it was looking...until I went chasing comets to the outskirts of Sydney (B4 sky) and decided to fill in a couple of hours on m78 while I was there. I was absolutely floored by the difference in the subs coming through and with 3hrs of B4 data it was suddenly back on again.

The tricky part was how to combine it with data from my B7 home. Short story, I couldn't... except for a run of 2hrs I took with a UHC filter when I was just messing around. Everything else (even taken the next night from home on a moonless night) completely destroyed the stack.

Buuuuuut, with just on 5hrs of data and very few prospects of getting any more this season I thought it was worth processing so here's my humble attempt! Also in case you were wondering, the initial UHC data had been framed differently which is why the aspect ratio is kinda cinematic...

c14 non edge hyperstar f1.9
eq8 pro
asi2600mc pro
5hrs - 60sec subs - gain 100
ASIAIR Pro / APP / PS-LR

Link to the larger size version...

Thanks for dropping by

PS - I am officially extremely jealous of all you folks living under dark sky!

[raymo]

WOW!!!
raymo

[TrevorW]

Very nice tight stars good colour

[Kuz]

Superb capture Dave
.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well Dave, despite what sounds like a difficult process ...the final result looks pretty good to me, what an interesting field, love your work

MIke

[Retrograde (Pete)]

That is awesome Dave. Dark skies do make everything so much easier!

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

That’s landed in a good place David and shows the value of persistence

[Startrek (Martin)]

What an beautiful image Dave
Incredible detail
Top notch
Yeh it’s not until you get away from a big City and image under darker skies you realise how tough is it work with data that’s full of heavy gradients and fashion a decent image out of it.
Away down south at my Dome during Dec to Feb when imaging ( even with a moon around ) as the subs come in they are almost fricken black , in Sydney they have a green cast
Chalk and cheese
Cheers
Martin

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks guys, I much appreciate the compliments.
I think if I've learnt one thing from this project - that for targets that strongly feature dark or reflection nebula I've just gotta get out of the city. I did a fair bit of experimenting with different stacks from different nights and what combination either added or subtracted from the final result. It's not that APP couldn't remove the gradients, its that the fine and subtle detail was simply washed away or replaced by mush that really ruined it. It hurts throwing away so many hours of data but it was better to have a final product a bit noisy from lack of data than smooth and mushy...

I did a LP comparison on my recent comet post here, and here's another one attached which shows a raw 45min unprocessed live-stack from B4 vs B7 on consecutive nights.

Having said all that I'm happy with how it turned out and have learned quite a bit in the process so I'll call that a win!

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Not easy capturing all whats going on here. Dust dark light etc. Lovely.

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks Paul. Yes there sure is- who would have thought a giant ball of dust could be so pretty! I reckon another 5-10hrs would really top it off but alas it’s been one of those years hey

[atalas]

Great shot from Padstow Dave....very good detail

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Great shot from Padstow Dave....very good detail

Thanks mate but unfortunately can’t credit Padstow skies for this one- I had to head SW out of Syd to get any worthwhile data. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like it’s gotten substantially worse here over the last year or so…

[atalas]

Ah ok that explains It....It's very difficult from here

Yeah the skies haven't been good this past 12 months around here Dave but It might be more the transparency been crap than any great increase of light pollution....always seems to be a high level cloud even on what seems like a clear night....or maybe a bit of both.

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Ah ok that explains It....It's very difficult from here

Yeah the skies haven't been good this past 12 months around here Dave but It might be more the transparency been crap than any great increase of light pollution....always seems to be a high level cloud even on what seems like a clear night....or maybe a bit of both.

I think you’re right on the transparency being crap . Hopefully this year there’ll be a bit less moisture in the air

[Bassnut (Fred)]

whoa, that fair pops, and different composition. Excellent!.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

the dark dust clouds are amazing!!

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks Nik & Fred. I quite liked the framing as it shows how it intersects with the Barnard’s loop- I’d never realised that before.

[Dilsh]

Awesome shot Dave. Really like the dark dust lanes in this one. Needed a dark site to bring those out.

I live in inner Melbs and shoot in narrowband 99% of the time due to LP. I agree it's getting worse. People still have XMAS lights up where I live. Light is too cheap due to LED tech.

Anyone say remote observatory...

Thanks for sharing

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by Dilsh

Awesome shot Dave. Really like the dark dust lanes in this one. Needed a dark site to bring those out.

I live in inner Melbs and shoot in narrowband 99% of the time due to LP. I agree it's getting worse. People still have XMAS lights up where I live. Light is too cheap due to LED tech.

Anyone say remote observatory...

Thanks for sharing

Thanks mate. Yes I’ve had some very frustrating attempts at these kind of targets from the burbs. I know technically it’s possible but I’m realising it’s less of a headache just to head down the highway-