RCW120 -Dollar Sign Nebula

[ChrisM]

Nice result Jase. I haven't seen this DSO previously.
Chris

[dvj (John)]

Exceptional image. I've been hoping to see someone shoot this one with longer focal length.

j

[Peter Ward]

I'd suggest many deep sky wannabes take a good long look at this master class of an image.

Superbly done Jase.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Good to see you back Jase! Lovely image!

Cheers, Marcus

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Nice to see a new image from you Jase!looks great,well done of cause.

Thanks Louie. A little rusty on some aspects of processing but a pleasing result none the less. Thanks for checking it out.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Nice one Jase. More data will make it smoother. Good to see you back into it with your new rig.

Cheers Marc. For sure, more data would go a long way. I did collect close to 19hrs but dumped the bad subs with FWHM being too high. I'm not entirely certain of the local conditions yet when it comes to seeing. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking photo Jase.

I love the colour and composition.

Good luck with the new equipment.


Ross.

Thank you kindly Ross. Need all the luck I can get, let me tell you. Down time due to equipment troubles is plain frustrating, tweaking performance less so, but in the end I'm pleased to be able to get a result to share. There comes a point that the endless tweaks provide diminishing returns that for sure. Anyway, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Thanks!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeh it's a very nice shot Jase with plenty of your usual quality elements.

Cool how you were prompted to shoot it too, your very own Palomar Schmidt-200" Hale combo

Actually your wide field version prompted me to shoot part of it with the AG12 and 16803 last year also

Mike

Cheers Mike! Yes its good to go back over previous images to reshoot something else in the frame or for that matter try a different palette. I used the wide field image as an overly in TheSky to ensure I obtained the composition I wanted. I've had a few comments that composition could have been better with RCW120 centered but its not what I wanted. The star field to the lower left and Ha nebulosity to the lower right adds an extra dimension in my opinion. Nice work on NGC6281 too. Its a great FoV. Thanks for checking it out.

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Nice result Jase. I haven't seen this DSO previously.
Chris

Thanks Chris! Yes, I'm surprised by the lack of amateur images of this target. I saw one from ESO using a multiband palette of IR? and visible wavelengths that really brought out the bubble like structure around the brighter HII area. It's only seen as faint Ha data in this image and is poorly defined. Thanks for your comment.

Originally Posted by dvj

Exceptional image. I've been hoping to see someone shoot this one with longer focal length.

j

Cheers John! Pleased you liked it! Its an intriguing nebula at short focal lengths. I recall when I started to process RCW119 wide field image I wanted to know more. To get an up close perspective with the interesting dark nebulosity rift zig-zagging through the HII. I now look back at some of the wide field images I've taken as galactic road maps showing different features urging for more focal length. Too many targets, not enough time. I'm sure we all face this dilemma!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I'd suggest many deep sky wannabes take a good long look at this master class of an image.

Superbly done Jase.

Thanks Peter! You're an old hand at these focal lengths so I appreciate the tip of the hat.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Good to see you back Jase! Lovely image!

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus! Indeed good to be back. As they say, you're only as good as your last image. Keen to see what you'll nail with your new set up too.

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Thanks all. Appreciate the support.

[RobF (Rob)]

Great going Jase, and like many others, SO happy to see you still working and posting your astrophotography!

[Shiraz (Ray)]

gosh that is a classy image Jase - exceptional. regards Ray

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by RobF

Great going Jase, and like many others, SO happy to see you still working and posting your astrophotography!

Cheers Rob! It was only a matter of time before I got back into. Once bitten by the imaging bug, its with you for life. This form of technical art is addictive. Ideally I wanted to start fresh with new kit hence the big sell up but I decided to work with what I had on hand. Thanks for checking out the image and making comment.

Originally Posted by Shiraz

gosh that is a classy image Jase - exceptional. regards Ray

Pleased you liked it, Ray. I hope this image sparks interest in others to try it. I suspect it would look quite different in narrowband or even those thrill seekers who venture the near infrared path. Thanks again.

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Great image Jase! That wide field shot is fantastic, so much going on there! Nice comparison with the wide field and the closeup.
Erik

[h0ughy (David)]

worth the wait! thank you for the photon vista

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Superb Jase!!

Such a beautiful field and that dollar sign sure stands out!

Cheers,

Justin.

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by E_ri_k

Great image Jase! That wide field shot is fantastic, so much going on there! Nice comparison with the wide field and the closeup.
Erik

Cheers Erik. Indeed the wide field image provides an interesting perspective. For a further extension of the FoV, you can see RCW119 (aka Gum57) in the top left corner of a different image I produced as shown labelled here. You can view larger resolutions of this scene here. Unfortunately, RCW120 is just out of the FoV. Probably one or two more mosaic panels would have done the trick. Thanks for checking out the images!

Originally Posted by h0ughy

worth the wait! thank you for the photon vista

Thanks David! This was somewhat a rags to riches image requiring additional processing than normal. Due to camera issues at the time, I experienced dark banding across the field related to bright stars (reference attached). The camera is currently being upgraded to the latest F-series board so should be back in action shortly. The banding issue was easy to deal with using layer masks. There are still some residual flaws related to this in the final image which I could have chased down and resolved for little gain. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

Superb Jase!!

Such a beautiful field and that dollar sign sure stands out!

Cheers,

Justin.

Thanks Justin. Appreciated and pleased you liked it. The faint shell/bubble that surrounds the main HII structure sure is fascinating too.

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Thanks again all.

[alpal]

I missed this thread.
That's a great image of a target I didn't know about.

[Leonardo70 (Leonardo Orazi)]

Wonderful image for me ...

Congrats,
Leo

[jase (Jason)]

Originally Posted by alpal

I missed this thread.
That's a great image of a target I didn't know about.

Thanks Allan! Apologies I didn't see your earlier reply to the post. Am now embarrassed I didn't acknowledge earlier. Thanks for checking out the image.

Originally Posted by Leonardo70

Wonderful image for me ...

Congrats,
Leo

Cheers Leo! Something new for you 'northerners' with a not so well known target. Actually is new for some southerners too. I'm pleased you liked it.

[astronobob (Bob)]

How awesome is that, Top Image ! Facinating with how much & now smooth the neb is you have
Inspiring for the likes of myself to get a CCD quick

[jase (Jason)]

Thanks Bob. Pleased you enjoyed it. Don't hesitate on the CCD path, you will not regret it. You can always get your feet wet with a OSC first before diving off the top spring board with a Mono chip and filters.

[naskies (Dave)]

Very nice, Jase. I really like the saturation.