Celestial Snake (B72)

[jase (Jason)]

Hi All,

This was another fill-in image while waiting for other targets to hit their prime imaging position. I know its had its fair share of 'show time' here, but I thought I'd post it anyway;

Celestial Snake (B72)

Located in the constellation Ophiuchus the remarkable dark nebula known as the Snake Nebula slithers its way through a sea of stars. The nebula is more formally referred to as Barnard 72 (B72). In the early 20th century, astronomer E. E. Barnard catalogued 182 dark markings around the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Barnard's nebulae consist of interstellar dark clouds of obscuring gas and dust, blocking light of stars behind. B72 resides approximately 650 light years away.

This image with its subtle and bold dust areas was rather interesting to process. Again, I pushed the a few sequences through PixInsight. HDRWaveletTransform is what made the difference with this image. I attempted to replicate the same effect in Photoshop, but couldn't completely match the output of the PI HDRWaveletTransform routine. I really like what it has done to the mid tones displaying a good balance between the shadows. I'll need to use this more often - a new world awaits! This is a straight RGB composite which I enjoy doing for bright fields such as this. It provides for a super rich colour with no need to juggle colour shifts in luminance data. It was layered a couple of times using the vibrance tool in PS. It was tempting to push the data more but found the contrast wash too severe. Feel free to check out the annotated version on the page for the other Barnard catalogued features.

Anyway, thanks for looking. All comments welcome.

[RB (Andrew)]

Time to give the 'ol Apogee a good clean out with the Rocket blower Jase, look at all that dust !

Sensational my friend !!

[midnight (Darrin)]

My goodness!

Just fantastic and studying the dark cloud makes this image very enjoyable.

Darrin...

[Peter Ward]

Expertly handled. I very much like the colour...you've achieved a silver/gold sparkle in the backgound stars that is very hard to master.

Just excellent!

[atalas]

Wonderful work Jase.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I'm really loving these dark nebs.
Stunning image Jase.

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by RB

Time to give the 'ol Apogee a good clean out with the Rocket blower Jase, look at all that dust !

Sensational my friend !!

Thanks RB. The Apogee U16M is prime at the moment, post its servicing in April. Plenty of dust on display. I actually though the different shade of gold toward the bottom was a gradient until I looked at a wide field image and realised it was natural...just as well I didn't remove it! Thanks again!

Originally Posted by midnight

My goodness!

Just fantastic and studying the dark cloud makes this image very enjoyable.

Darrin...

Cheers Darrin. This image has provided inspiration to mosaic the area sometime. May be next season. Pleased you enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Expertly handled. I very much like the colour...you've achieved a silver/gold sparkle in the backgound stars that is very hard to master.

Just excellent! http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/thumbsup.gifhttp://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/thumbsup.gif

Thanks Peter. Yes the colour in the area is difficult to manage. Its easy to over do it. I had a version where I pushed the red and green channel quite hard to introduce a brighter golden hue but it didn't work for this image. Thanks for the feedback.

Originally Posted by atalas

Wonderful work Jase.

Cheers Louie. Actually seeing your great image of B72 was one of the reasons I thought I should finally process this. So many renditions out there and so many that capture the imagination.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

I'm really loving these dark nebs.
Stunning image Jase. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....es/happy04.gif

Thanks JJJ! Pleased you enjoyed the scene.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Beats the crap out of my rendition!

Just astounding. Love it, mate!

H

[desler]

Stunning jase, really well balanced throughout. Thanks for the view.

Darren

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Beats the crap out of my rendition!

Just astounding. Love it, mate!

H

Thanks H! I enjoyed the rendition you did last year. You really brought out the golden hue. This is an interesting scene to process. Thanks for checking it out.

Originally Posted by desler

Stunning jase, really well balanced throughout. Thanks for the view.

Darren

Cheers Darren! It is quite interesting to see different parts of the scene which are of similar contrast, but were not catalogued by Barnard. Perhaps the photographic plate didn't pick them up. Thanks for the feedback.

====
For those interested, you can see Barnard's work here - http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/

Specifically B72 is located on plate 20;
http://www.library.gatech.edu/Barnar...atechart20.jpg

====
Thanks all!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Lovely result Jase (can't detect the shadow highlight tool use ).

There are a few presentation options as far as colour goes but this looks good.

A great field size, lot's of interesting little bits to find, there is even a mini-snake near the top just right of centre next to the little yellow GC

I am enjoying your fill-in images..looks like Greg has competition now for most prolific imager

Mike

[Dennis]

I am struggling to find some new words to express what I think and feel about this Jase, your latest image, without sounding repetitive.

The processing and detail is simply exquisite and the view quite breathtaking. Thanks for the rich explanations and annotated image – whilst these represent additional work to the already lengthy process, they add another dimension that further illuminates what is already a stunning piece of work.

Cheers

Dennis

[leon]

They just keep coming Jase, beautifully captured, crisp and clean, you would have to be happy with that one.

Leon

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Doesn't get much better than that

[gregbradley]

That's a beauty Jase. The widefield view really suits this object.

I agree with Peter, you got the background stars looking very nice which is the make or break with images of this object.

Another ripper. You're on a roll. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of PI - that's very helpful.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Top stuff again Jase. I'm always amazed how well you control your blue channel. Every time.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Gorgeous. You've been busy lately, loving it. As a novice, I wouldn't know what to look for, but after Peter's comment I re-looked at your image and see what he means. It does look very appealing.

[bokglob (Darrell)]

Wow Jase, what an amazing F.O.V This is the nicest rendition of this area I've seen for sure. Stunning work, seriosly well done!

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Another beautiful 'quickie' jase.
Like PW said - star colours are very nice. Do they come straight out of the FSQ like that or do they need a fair bit of processing?
I love star fields like this, but my attempts fail to have that 'pop' due to lack of those jewel-like stars - any tips?

Cheers
Doug

[richardo (Rich)]

Hey Jase,
pretty amazing fov and detail obtained.... ah the lovely Q..
Great to see you back..
Missed your images and constructive expertise.

Didn't realise how much of an extent these little dark do dads go on for... like a galactic snakes and ladders.
The wide dynamic range would have been fun to process.
Looks very good.
Lovely golden stars and not over pushed so it looks like an indistinguishable soup.

I must revisit Pixinsight. Used it a bit years ago when it was first around.. I'm sure there's a heap more handy routines...

What filters are you using here Jase, Baader?

Great short snap !

All the best
Rich