I'll have a look at highly stretched versions of the different colour masters to see if there are any interesting differences..
Yes, sounds like a sensible thing to try. I'm not really sure what colour you would expect IFN or faint galaxy extensions to be. If the faint outer part of a galaxy is really just an extension of a spiral arm (like in the GALEX image), it would be blue, but if it is a result of tidal streams of ejected stars it might be white (like deep visual images of M51).
The IFN dust might behave like "normal" denser reflection nebulae. These are usually blue since they reflect light from nearby O/B stars. However, if the main source of light illuminating the IFN is the core of the Milky Way, you might expect it to be more yellow.
Might be worth noting, for a galactic latitude of 40, that there is a lot of dust in this region of the sky. The lower image here (a rectilinear projection with north at top) is a stretched total extinction map for the Milky Way. It shows a feature sometimes called "The Polar Spur" going across M81/M82. The upper image is zoomed in on M81/M82, showing some banded dust structures.
Absolutely stunning. You see a lot of images framing these 2 galaxies but I had no idea there was all this stuff inbetween. Great stuff.
Thanks, David.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NOMH
Are you sure a cotton ball didn't somehow explode over your objective when you were away from the scope?!?
That is a stunning image Rick. Great job and what they say about SRO skies appears to be true.
JB
Thanks, JB
Quote:
Originally Posted by SamD
Yes, sounds like a sensible thing to try. I'm not really sure what colour you would expect IFN or faint galaxy extensions to be. If the faint outer part of a galaxy is really just an extension of a spiral arm (like in the GALEX image), it would be blue, but if it is a result of tidal streams of ejected stars it might be white (like deep visual images of M51).
The IFN dust might behave like "normal" denser reflection nebulae. These are usually blue since they reflect light from nearby O/B stars. However, if the main source of light illuminating the IFN is the core of the Milky Way, you might expect it to be more yellow.
Might be worth noting, for a galactic latitude of 40, that there is a lot of dust in this region of the sky. The lower image here (a rectilinear projection with north at top) is a stretched total extinction map for the Milky Way. It shows a feature sometimes called "The Polar Spur" going across M81/M82. The upper image is zoomed in on M81/M82, showing some banded dust structures.
I tried a few experiments doing PixelMath on the colour frames but no useful results yet. Most of the IFN appears in the Luminance and it's very faint in the colour subs so I suspect longer colour subs would be needed to pull out these faint signals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Well done Mr. Misty.
Thanks, Marc!
Quote:
Originally Posted by marc4darkskies
Whoa! That's so deep I think I have a case of the bends now!!
Hi Rick,
That is such a nice picture.
I would have been tempted to increase the colour very slightly with LAB mode -
with a mask for only the bright areas
& then increased the contrast very slightly for the overall picture.
oh... damn... wow, someone turn on the fog lights, it's heavy tonight!
Far out...
Thanks, Chris
Quote:
Originally Posted by niharika
Excellent image Rick. Looks even better with the lights out on a big monitor.
Ta, Raki!
Quote:
Originally Posted by alpal
Hi Rick,
That is such a nice picture.
I would have been tempted to increase the colour very slightly with LAB mode -
with a mask for only the bright areas
& then increased the contrast very slightly for the overall picture.
cheers
Allan
Thanks, Allan. I did adjust the a* and b* curves but eventually decided to turn them down a little so that the IFN, which was my intended main subject, didn't suffer by comparison. Definitely a matter of personal taste...
Sensational Rick! I've seen a lot of images of similar composition and you wouldn't even know all that dust is out there. You've done a great job showcasing it, well done!
Astonishing really.
Thanks for the view.
Awe inspiring.
Graz
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rod771
Sensational Rick! I've seen a lot of images of similar composition and you wouldn't even know all that dust is out there. You've done a great job showcasing it, well done!
Superb rendition of this particularly dusty patch of sky Rick, very nicely done! The IFN is looking stunning here, and the full resolution image is a delight to surf around in. Incredible how the fainter galaxies on the right side are almost drowned out by the dust.
I suppose the curious small star spikes are due to the ccd microlenses. I recall seeing a similar effect in some of my own, and others', deep images.
Thanks for the impressive view!
Superb rendition of this particularly dusty patch of sky Rick, very nicely done! The IFN is looking stunning here, and the full resolution image is a delight to surf around in. Incredible how the fainter galaxies on the right side are almost drowned out by the dust.
I suppose the curious small star spikes are due to the ccd microlenses. I recall seeing a similar effect in some of my own, and others', deep images.
Thanks for the impressive view!
Thanks Rolf! Yes, the spiky artifacts on the stars are from the KAF-8300 microlenses. They pop out even more if you do some size reduction on the stars. Now that I'm intimately familiar with them I can't unsee them. Just show me an image from a QSI-683 or STx-8300 or H-18 and I'll notice them
That's so deep I think I have a case of the bends now!! 
Thanks, Marcus.
