I've been wanting to image this target for a while. I had originally planned to acquire the reflection nebulosity of NGC5367 at a longer focal length but time beat me to it. Instead I had a go with the 16" F/3.5 system. Cometary globules are pretty cool to process, have done a couple of them with CG4 being the most memorable.
Processed in CCDStack, MaximDL and Photoshop. Not a large data set but plenty of signal to work with. Took some inverse masks to correctly extract the faint dusty tail. In hindsight, longer sub exposures would have been better but the result turned out ok. Moderate aperture and speed makes collecting the faint stuff a little easier! A couple of background galaxy add a pleasing dimension. I used a subtle application of unsharp mask to get the wisps of reflection nebulosity to stand out. Histogram is white clipped in the blue channel..ugly, but I figured beyond the blue stars I'm not losing any data so have left it as is. I experimented with the history brush for dodging and burning a little with this image. Very capable tool which uses the image itself for enhancement. For those that haven't heard much of the history brush in PS, you view PS wizard Russell Brown's tutorial on it here.
Very cool, Jase! Like a huge cosmic slug That combination must suck down the photons. You've pulled out lots of detail in the dust and reflection nebulosity in such a short time.
Cheers Kev! Its a pretty cool target with the reflection nebulosity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Very cool, Jase! Like a huge cosmic slug That combination must suck down the photons. You've pulled out lots of detail in the dust and reflection nebulosity in such a short time.
Cheers,
Rick.
For sure Rick, the scope brings in the photons quick. Its chalk and cheese compared to operating at F/9! I actually collected around 6 hours of data but not all was usable due to high winds at SSO. I'm finding that a carbon fiber tube of this size is a bit of a sail. The scope is however reasonably sheltered on the western side of the observatory. Thanks for checking it out.
Great resolution Jase. Colour is good too. More data though would be better but I understand where you are coming from. I did this object a few years back and found it a pain to get rid of the noise. I may have to revisit this region again and really smash it out this time.
Thanks Paul! Indeed, getting the faint stuff to shine can be tricky. Pushing the data will only work if noise can be suppressed using masks or other tools. CG12 is well placed at the moment so you may still have time this season. Thanks for checking it out.
No Greg, it was take with the Alta F16000. For some reason the MySQL database that contains the image details is showing the wrong info. I'll have a look at it when I get a chance. Sorry for getting your hopes up.
There isn't a lot of difference between the KAI-16000 and KAI-16070 as mentioned in a previous thread. Greater well depth on the KAI-16070 but pixel size is the same between the two (7.4u) so sampling will not change. QE is not radically different either. The Alta F16000 I'm currently using has no mechanical shutter. I'm just using the electronic shutter which is standard for interline chips. Darks were taken with the objective covered. Flats are a breeze and can be taken in under a second with no shutter artefacts (obviously), common with fast optical systems.
You're blitzing us with images Jase! Very nice image of another less well known object! Great work!
By the way, I started imaging RCW75. Holy cow, talk about a dim object!! The weather and seeing here in the Sydney basin of gloom has only allowed me to catch 4 hours of Ha so far (over 3 nights ) ... nowhere near enough even with 30min subs. I'll need to double that at least to be able to do some noise control.
) ... nowhere near enough even with 30min subs. I'll need to double that at least to be able to do some noise control.
