NGC3324 and NGC3293

[telemarker (Keith)]

Took advantage of a couple of clear nights to intercept a few photons from NGC3324, the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, and open cluster NGC3293 in the Constellation of Carina.

Scope: 127ED F7.5
Camera: SBIG ST-8300 with Baader Ha, OIII and SII filters
Mount: HEQ5Pro controlled by EQMod and TheSky5
Guiding: SX-AO at 10Hz

Capture: 3.5hrs Ha, 2.5hrs OIII and 1.75hrs SII in 15 minute subs
Calibrated and stacked in DSS, normalised and combined in Nebulosity using the Hubble pallet of Red: SII, Green: Ha and Blue: OIII and using Ha as the luminance layer. Stretching and colour manipulation in PS.

Oh, and a special version for Fred without those pesky stars

[Octane (Humayun)]

Keith,

Wow, excellent going -- kudos to you on chasing 15 minute sub-exposures -- that's nothing to be sneezed at.

Also, that starless version is just stunning. A magnificent work of art. The top left, reminds me of the braids and veils of nebulosity in IC 349, near Merope in the Pleiades.

H

[telemarker (Keith)]

Thanks H, appreciate the comment. I was surprised at the amount of Ha data present in the subs. I teased more out with the Ha layer shown here. That 127ED is starting to perform.

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Really nice work. But as a matter of taste I like stars. The Ha has a lot of detail.

Frank

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Beautiful. I like the starless too.

[telemarker (Keith)]

Originally Posted by troypiggo

Beautiful. I like the starless too.

Thanks Troy for commenting, I tend to lean the other way. There is a little too much cleaning up to be done on the star residues. I might have another go at it.

Originally Posted by telecasterguru

Really nice work. But as a matter of taste I like stars. The Ha has a lot of detail.

Frank

Thanks Frank, I like stars too. I should try to get sone RGB stars to get some proper colour into them, but with StrongmanMike's new scope here we won't get to see starshine for a while. With so much Ha the detail was there asking to be released. . Ta for looking.

[richardo (Rich)]

This turned out excellent Keith!!
Great to see how much dust and emission the narrow band filters picked out on this.
The extreme sub lengths really did the trick as the emission becomes quite faint from the Mistrel neb to the Gem cluster, that is with far lesser sub times.

Very pleasing to look at!
Top stuff!

Rich

[telemarker (Keith)]

Originally Posted by richardo

This turned out excellent Keith!!
Great to see how much dust and emission the narrow band filters picked out on this.
The extreme sub lengths really did the trick as the emission becomes quite faint from the Mistrel neb to the Gem cluster, that is with far lesser sub times.

Very pleasing to look at!
Top stuff!

Rich

Thanks Rich,
Yes, lots of nebulosity around the Gem cluster and quite complex in it's structure as H noted. I might try a reprocess on this and my NGC 3576 data using a natural tricolour palette blend and see what it looks like.
Thanks for viewing and I appreciate your comment.

Regards
Keith