That is easily the most impressive image of the LMC I have ever seen. It's simply a joy to swim around in the full screen zoomable version. And what a marathon effort at 73 hours! Outstanding work.
Also interesting to note how many bubble shaped nebulae there actually are in the LMC.
you are one crazy guy. that's incredible dedication to the cause and another amazing result.
so tell us more about your 'flat' adventures. are you using sky flats? you're operating remotely with a wide field so i don't know if you have much other option? what is the main software you're using to blend and adjust the mosaic?
Well...that's a visual feast Marco, I enjoyed the meal, from the pappardelle HII to the polpette OIII bubbles, yumissimo
Mike
good to know I didn't get a "pasticcio"
Quote:
Originally Posted by philiphart
you are one crazy guy. that's incredible dedication to the cause and another amazing result.
so tell us more about your 'flat' adventures. are you using sky flats? you're operating remotely with a wide field so i don't know if you have much other option? what is the main software you're using to blend and adjust the mosaic?
Phil
Hi Phil, I am using the flipflat and taking flats to the limit of my camera linearity to get the highest possible s/n (i.e. my flats go to 45K ADU)
Unfortunately the main problem is the natural skyglow, despite the location I am shooting from is very dark and free from light pollution, the natural skyglow on large field has different color response as you get closer to the horizon. In other words, on a 12 degree per side FOV you have different colors of the background and, since the altitude of the object changes during the exposures and not all exposures were take with the object in the same alt/azimuth location (not even during the shots using same filter) when you sum up the image and stretch a lot you get always the background not completely even..
As processing software, after the image calibration done with Maxim), I use only PS. As must-have plug-ins I have GradientXterminator (couldn't do without) and Noise Ninja (very useful). Spikes on stars (if can add some contribution to the look of the image) are done with StarSpikesPro plug-in.
It's very unusual that I was choose the same person for another IOTW so soon after their last one - however this image was so mind-blowingly good that I couldn't resist choosing it as IOTW this week, no matter how hard I tried - I just kept coming back to this image.
Great, Greg! Now all we have to do is convince everyone else that a little messed up galaxy about a squillionth as big as a standard barred spiral is just that!
But joking aside, I actually do see a bit of a remnant there. Maybe so much mass has already been drawn off that it looks irregular even though once it was a barred spiral. Maybe someone with some knowledge about galaxy evolution/canibalisation can comment on just what the LMC was before it got "involved" with the milky way.
Unfortunately the main problem is the natural skyglow, despite the location I am shooting from is very dark and free from light pollution, the natural skyglow on large field has different color response as you get closer to the horizon. In other words, on a 12 degree per side FOV you have different colors of the background and, since the altitude of the object changes during the exposures and not all exposures were take with the object in the same alt/azimuth location (not even during the shots using same filter) when you sum up the image and stretch a lot you get always the background not completely even..
Yeah.. that's the problem I ran into with my Rho mosaic, both with the 200mm lens and the QHY9 on the Tak E160. At least I know you haven't found any magic solutions
I resolved next time to shoot the colour subs much higher up and not shoot anything as low as I did (I went down to about 30 degress altitude). The panorama stitching in CS5 is *much* better than previous versions for star stuff and did a good job with the 200mm lens shot, but will have to give the Gradient Xterminator thing a shot too.
And I bet there is a tidla stream of stars from the LMC to the Milky Way. I wonder if there is any way of highlighting that from our perspective.
Greg.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkm2304
Great, Greg! Now all we have to do is convince everyone else that a little messed up galaxy about a squillionth as big as a standard barred spiral is just that!
But joking aside, I actually do see a bit of a remnant there. Maybe so much mass has already been drawn off that it looks irregular even though once it was a barred spiral. Maybe someone with some knowledge about galaxy evolution/canibalisation can comment on just what the LMC was before it got "involved" with the milky way.
It's very unusual that I was choose the same person for another IOTW so soon after their last one - however this image was so mind-blowingly good that I couldn't resist choosing it as IOTW this week, no matter how hard I tried - I just kept coming back to this image.
Congratulations on such a fine piece of work.
Thanks a lot Mike for your appreciation, am happy to had it IOTW
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon
I'm a bit late to the party but I have to agree this is probably the best LMC I can recall seeing.
Thanks James!
Quote:
Originally Posted by philiphart
Yeah.. that's the problem I ran into with my Rho mosaic, both with the 200mm lens and the QHY9 on the Tak E160. At least I know you haven't found any magic solutions http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/..../winking70.gif
It's very unusual that I was choose the same person for another IOTW so soon after their last one - however this image was so mind-blowingly good that I couldn't resist choosing it as IOTW this week, no matter how hard I tried - I just kept coming back to this image.
Congratulations on such a fine piece of work.
Thanks a lot Mike for your appreciation, am happy to had it IOTW
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon
I'm a bit late to the party but I have to agree this is probably the best LMC I can recall seeing.
Thanks James!
Quote:
Originally Posted by philiphart
Yeah.. that's the problem I ran into with my Rho mosaic, both with the 200mm lens and the QHY9 on the Tak E160. At least I know you haven't found any magic solutions http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/..../winking70.gif
good to know I didn't get a "pasticcio" 
