Thanks guys for the comments. The object is very dim and required a lot of integration time with size of the scope just to manage out the noise a bit. There is still some noise there but I would probably need to double the integration time in the luminance to at least halve it. The KAF8300 sensor is good but one of its problems is noise. That combined with a relatively small aperture makes for longer integration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Looks like a very difficult and fascinating object, Paul. I have some data too but nowhere near enough to do it justice. I think you've done a great job. My only criticism is that you've lost some of the variation in density of the deepest dusty areas (my reference for this is the lovely image that Marco did some time ago.)
Cheers,
Rick.
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Thanks Rick, certainly a valid criticism and the lum/Ha component does show all the dusty areas well but when I put the data together I felt that showing all the dusty sections seemed to give the impression of it being over stretched and a bit monochrome. I actually used Marco's image as a bit of a guide but did think his looked a little too stretched too.
My guess is that our monitors are also showing grey scale a little differently too. On my monitor I can see the dusty sections reasonably well but not real bright. I'll take a look at the histogram again and just see if I can get those dusty sections showing just a bit more without it looking too stretched for my taste.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustigsmed
very cool image Paul - it must be fairly faint. also is that a small PN up the top to the left a touch? hard to see on my tv screen.
cheers,
rusty
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Thanks Rusty, I don't there is a PN in that field. I just checked SkyX and could not see one in the field. I think you are looking at the red and blue smudge, that is reflection and emission. There is another one almost like this located near M78 too. They are quite interesting. There must be a star nearby creating the reflection part, but it is not evident in the image which one that might. If you are thinking it is another area then I cannot see where you might be looking.
