The Witch Head Nebula - Page 2

Octane (Humayun) · #21 07-10-2008, 11:40 PM

Hi Mike,

Can you do a mosaic for us -- I'd love to see the whole thing!

Here's mine from a while back.

Regards,
Humayun

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

So glad you enjoyed it Humi, like Martin said, a two frame mozaic and with still calm skies then a cracker of an image would have resulted I think..?

The near perfect conditions I had at Wiruna over the three days back in May when I took my ultra deep Cen A image would have been great...me thinks that may have been a bit of a fluke for Wiruna?

Mike

strongmanmike (Michael) · #22 07-10-2008, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

One of my favourite nebs and once again you've done a marvelous job with it Mike, despite the conditions.
Gotta love that mount too, huh, legendary.

Thanks Andrew, a couple'a more hours would have been nice

...it wasn't that hard to pocess as the dynamic range isn't that big across the image and there are no bright stars in the field to blow out, add dark skies so virtually no gradients and it was rather basic processing really.

Cheers

Mike

strongmanmike (Michael) · #23 07-10-2008, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Hi Mike,

Can you do a mosaic for us -- I'd love to see the whole thing!

Here's mine from a while back.

Regards,
Humayun

Hmmm?..maaaaaybe at IISAC..? I "was" planning something else...

Yes I remeber that version of yours, I'm a bit of a fan of your work actually

Mike

Octane (Humayun) · #24 08-10-2008, 12:01 AM

Mike,

Gosh, shucks. *blush*

I can feel the love all the way down here. It's keeping me warm on this cold evening in Canberra, lol.

Still, I don't understand why it came out brown! Admittedly, I haven't really done an image search on Google to see what other people have captured.

Regards,
Humayun

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Hmmm?..maaaaaybe at IISAC..? I "was" planning something else...

Yes I remeber that version of yours, I'm a bit of a fan of your work actually

Mike

RB (Andrew) · #25 08-10-2008, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Still, I don't understand why it came out brown! Admittedly, I haven't really done an image search on Google to see what other people have captured.

Regards,
Humayun

I fiddled with your camera's White Balance when you weren't looking H.

Phil · #26 08-10-2008, 07:41 AM

Stunning shot. This is on the hit list this year. Have not imaged it yet.
Phil

Paramount · #27 08-10-2008, 09:12 AM

Hi Mike
Very nice indeed, this is one of my many targets for the future if light pollution doesn't spoil it
Best wishes
Gordon

peeb61 (Paul) · #28 08-10-2008, 09:32 AM

Well what can I say Mike?? My jaw needs some WD40 as it won't close...thanks for that!

Beautiful image!

Paul

Bassnut (Fred) · #29 08-10-2008, 09:43 AM

Very subtle and smooth Mike. I 1st thought the background was too high, but it suits it.

Craig_L · #30 08-10-2008, 03:27 PM

Wonderful shot Mike. You'd swear you were there, looking at from space.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #31 08-10-2008, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil

Stunning shot. This is on the hit list this year. Have not imaged it yet.
Phil

Thanks Phil quite a few people have said that they want to image this now, glad it has sparked an interest in this object, it really is very beautiful I think..even blowing around in the wind

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paramount

Hi Mike
Very nice indeed, this is one of my many targets for the future if light pollution doesn't spoil it
Best wishes
Gordon

Ditto from above Gordon

Quote:

Originally Posted by peeb61

Well what can I say Mike?? My jaw needs some WD40 as it won't close...thanks for that!

Beautiful image!

Paul

Well Paul, isn't it funny I had the worst conditions I have ever imaged in really and the response to the image created in those conditions has been one of the most positive and from all round the world...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Very subtle and smooth Mike. I 1st thought the background was too high, but it suits it.

Ah you thunk too much Freddo

I have seen Witch Heads against very black skies too and yes it doesn't look quite right..? I generally favour backgrounds that aren't black anyway...sheesh let's see..?.. I like noise, a blue cast to my images and a non black background

am I a looney ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig_L

Wonderful shot Mike. You'd swear you were there, looking at from space.

Yes I thought the same thing Craig, it feels like you are flying right through it huh? I am spewing that the conditions were so crap

or maybe the softening the conditions had on the image have actually helped a bit in this case...? Naaah!

Mike

KenGee (Kenith Gee) · #32 08-10-2008, 07:50 PM

Top image Mike, you are are one of the Bar setters on this site. Will give it ago.

Craig_L · #33 09-10-2008, 11:05 AM

Gee this is a hard one to image. Inspired by Mike's shot, I tried to shoot this last night with the Modded Canon DSLR @ 7minsISO1600 thru the Hutech LPS V3 filter and barely registered the nebula at all. Maybe I need a dark sky and LRGB filters. I'll have to be content with easier targets.

tornado33 · #34 09-10-2008, 12:40 PM

very nice image. Pleasing neutral sky background with a very natural blue colouring in the nebula with the faintest hint of pinks (probably from very faint Ha emissions).

Actually bad seeing doesnt seem to have caused much problem as the faint stars are still pretty small, barely a pixel across. Perhaps it might bloat the brighter stars but if it has its ceriainly not by much. A refracter on a stable mount will be better suited to iffy seeing than a big reflector anyway. I reckon transparency is the thing to get the best from the Witch head neb. and I imagine thats always quite good that far from populated areas.
Scott

h0ughy (David) · #35 09-10-2008, 12:47 PM

what a pretty lady - nice - very nice Mr Sidonio

strongmanmike (Michael) · #36 09-10-2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenGee

Top image Mike, you are are one of the Bar setters on this site. Will give it ago.

You think? well I guess that's a compliment?

Yeh go for it it is a beautiful nebula, I recon 600mm FL (or a two frame mozaic at 1200mm) and a few hours on this would churn out a pretty nice image

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig_L

Gee this is a hard one to image. Inspired by Mike's shot, I tried to shoot this last night with the Modded Canon DSLR @ 7minsISO1600 thru the Hutech LPS V3 filter and barely registered the nebula at all. Maybe I need a dark sky and LRGB filters. I'll have to be content with easier targets.

Glad you had a go Craig, I think the dark skies really do help here as does having a reasonably sensitive mono CCD, and remember, although rather short for LRGB imaging I still did 4hrs worth of exposure.

Quote:

very nice image. Pleasing neutral sky background with a very natural blue colouring in the nebula with the faintest hint of pinks (probably from very faint Ha emissions).

Thanks master Scotty

Quote:

Actually bad seeing doesnt seem to have caused much problem as the faint stars are still pretty small, barely a pixel across. Perhaps it might bloat the brighter stars but if it has its ceriainly not by much. A refracter on a stable mount will be better suited to iffy seeing than a big reflector anyway. I reckon transparency is the thing to get the best from the Witch head neb. and I imagine thats always quite good that far from populated areas.

Man, if you had been there you would have thought me completely mad for imaging

..err? you probably already do but for other reasons

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

what a pretty lady - nice - very nice Mr Sidonio

Yes pretty colours for a Witch huh?

multiweb (Marc) · #37 11-10-2008, 08:41 AM

That's a great shot Mike. I couldn't figure out where the profile was at first as it's so close up. That would be a good candidate fo a mosaic you reckon?

strongmanmike (Michael) · #38 11-10-2008, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

That's a great shot Mike. I couldn't figure out where the profile was at first as it's so close up. That would be a good candidate fo a mosaic you reckon?

Thanks Marc, glad you liked it.

Yes at this image scale and chip size at least two frames would be required to get all or most of it in.

Mike