A period of family medical uncertainty in recent times, that ultimately involved a 5hr op for my wife, was successful and we got the perfect result and prognosis of an all-clear ...but this has, not surprisingly, resulted in a period where imaging took a reality check and a back seat. So it's been over two months between imaging drinks ...of course I am not complaining in any way, I am very grateful for the outcome
Anyway, this past weekend, complete with that loooovely almost Full Moon, turned on some good conditions up at Eagleview. I hit something bright and doable in a couple of nights, The Tarantula Nebula . Friday night was essentially shooting through the gaps and the occasional high cloud and with a FWHM of between 1.9" and 2.2" (not too bad) I decided to gamble and hope Sat night would have better seeing for the more important Ha and SII, so, I grabbed the OIII and RGB On Cue, after a cloudy thunderstormy afternoon, the cloud cleared in the evening to a spectacular Saturday night ,with no wind, no dew but arhem, a big bloody Moon of course, but as I had hoped, the trade mark Eagleview seeing turned it on, with the FWHM dropping as low as 1.5" crossing the meridian ...the non-AO, non AE, mechanical auto guiding was superb!...the guide star centroid plot was mesmerising, essentially just quivering (ave errors of +/- 0.18 arc sec!! most of the night), happy....
I see a lot of wonderful wider field images of this perennial favourite, stretched fairly hard to, quite legitimately, reveal all the amazing faint nebulosity outside the energetic centre of the maelstrom... but surprisingly few higher resolution versions of the central nebula region. So, armed with the Full Moon , this was the goal. I wanted to showcase the depth and intricacies in the nebula structure, hoping for a kinda meaty solid 3D look that reveals the spacial depth, overall shape and structure but also reveals the wealth of colour nuances when this baby is imaged in 6 filters, while keeping the relative brightness of the dynamic range, natural looking (respecting the light). I also went for a, hopefully, more striking higher contrast look by not pushing the stretching, in order to keep the focus on the main arachnid show. When considering the details I was trying to extract, I had to keep reminding myself that this nebula is over 100X further away than the Orion Nebula!
After several versions and iterations and much contemplating, I think I'm kiiinda happy with this result hope you like it
everyone has a different color scheme for the Tarantula -
it's hard to know what it's supposed to look like?
I think if I were you I would post a few more versions on your web page.
Maybe just an RGB version,
then a Hubble palette with the SII Ha & OIII,
even a pure Ha black and white version would be interesting too.
You have the data now.
It's something you could work on at your leisure when the weather is not right for imaging.
everyone has a different color scheme for the Tarantula -
it's hard to know what it's supposed to look like?
He he, "supposed" to look like..? Maama Mia, no sucha thinga! I used all the NB filters and RGB, the result was always gonna be interesting..but that said, the colours are real and make sense and not that far from a true colour image
Quote:
I think if I were you I would post a few more versions on your web page.
Maybe just an RGB version,
then a Hubble palette with the SII Ha & OIII,
even a pure Ha black and white version would be interesting too.
Hey, I'm not stealing Martone Warhol's approach, he has patented that idea!
Wow - that is some mighty fine resolution!
I think you've respected the light pretty well whilst showing as much detail as possible. It's always a difficult balance on this object.
Glad to hear your wife is doing well which is the most important thing.
Excellent and I agree with the position on taking a more natural approach to the colour scheme. This image frames our astronomical arachnid very nicely whilst picking up the fainter dusty surrounds
That’s lovely Mike. Vibrant and seriously stunning! And glad things have worked out for your wife as well and hopefully some more quality nights ahead.
Mike,
Totally agree with everyone else, a great image with natural colour
Definitely not my “Pop Art” versions
Glad your wife is ok too, must be a relief for both of you and the family
We had a worrying time over the past month but thankfully my wife only required a couple of stents and was given the all clear , 6 monthly check ups from now on and a lifestyle change too.
Keep em coming from down there on the top of Australia
Wow - that is some mighty fine resolution!
I think you've respected the light pretty well whilst showing as much detail as possible. It's always a difficult balance on this object.
Glad to hear your wife is doing well which is the most important thing.
Thanks Pete, it is a great relief
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
That’s a beauty Mike!
I’m a big fan of the @Natural Narrowband@ colour palette too.
Glad to hear Angie’s ok
Glad you liked it Andy, using NB and BB can produce magic and thanks re Angie, me too
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryderscope
Excellent and I agree with the position on taking a more natural approach to the colour scheme. This image frames our astronomical arachnid very nicely whilst picking up the fainter dusty surrounds
Cheers mate, as I said I deliberately held back on the stretch, in order to keep boldness and contrast in the main bright nebula
Quote:
Originally Posted by markas
Splendid image, Mike
Superb detail, and I like the colours, which in my limited experience are difficult to manage with RGB alone.
Mark
Thanks Mark
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave882
That’s lovely Mike. Vibrant and seriously stunning! And glad things have worked out for your wife as well and hopefully some more quality nights ahead.
I am looking forward to some more clear nights, to celebrate the good result with Angie, I am organising a mini star party, planned for the next New Moon
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
I agree, this is a more natural palette that is far more pleasing then narrowband albeit still valid versions.
Getting all the narrowband and it's advantages whilst being able to produce a more natural image is quite a trick.
Some nice detailed resolution there.
Also glad to hear your very supportive wife is doing well. Best wishes there.
Greg.
Thanks Greg, it is challenging to combine it all and your eyes and mind keep playing tricks with you, really have to take lots of breaks from processing in order to re-look with fresh eyes, just to make sure you are zeroing in on producing something that works.. Funnily enough from such a dark steady location normal LRGB combing is actually a lot easier really
Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek
Mike,
Totally agree with everyone else, a great image with natural colour
Definitely not my “Pop Art” versions
Glad your wife is ok too, must be a relief for both of you and the family
We had a worrying time over the past month but thankfully my wife only required a couple of stents and was given the all clear , 6 monthly check ups from now on and a lifestyle change too.
Keep em coming from down there on the top of Australia
Fantastic Mike! Some lovely resolution there and very vibrant. Glad to hear your wife is doing well.
CS,
Mat
Cheers Mathew, yeah when it's good up there it's pretty good and appreciate the well wishes, needless to say, she has a new lease on life right now, like a whole new model her birthday today too
He he, "supposed" to look like..? Maama Mia, no sucha thinga! I used all the NB filters and RGB, the result was always gonna be interesting..but that said, the colours are real and make sense and not that far from a true colour image
Hey, I'm not stealing Martone Warhol's approach, he has patented that idea!
Mike
Hi Mike,
it seems that no one can agree on the correct colour for the Tarantula
and everyone is being their own Andy Warhol.
Hi Mike,
it seems that no one can agree on the correct colour for the Tarantula
and everyone is being their own Andy Warhol.
If you do a Google image search on the Tarantula Nebula you will get lots of variations.... no two look the same
Perhaps a hint and at least part of the explanation for the variation, can be gleaned in the colour info and MIRI filter section, of this JWST image release, capturing the heart of the Tarantula Nebula?
In the end some people will like an essentially all magenta/purple appearance, others may be partial to a multi wavelength ordered emission line presentation...or something in between
If you do a Google image search on the Tarantula Nebula you will get lots of variations.... no two look the same
Perhaps a hint and at least part of the explanation for the variation, can be gleaned in the colour info and MIRI filter section, of this JWST image release, capturing the heart of the Tarantula Nebula?
In the end some people will like an essentially all magenta/purple appearance, others may be partial to a multi wavelength ordered emission line presentation...or something in between
Yeah that's right... and makes for a lovely, interesting image regardless, huh? Point is there is no real right or wrong, all comes down to personal preference. To see the closest to what it should look like to our RGB sensitive retina's, I guess just using Red, Green and Blue exposures might show you that..? otherwise...open slather.
Sticking to imaging galaxies, or even star clusters, is probably easier because the RGB process is pretty standard and straight forward and the visual appearance, in terms of colour of galaxies or stars, is a little more standard and known and way less open to artistic license
Yeah that's right... and makes for a lovely, interesting image regardless, huh? Point is there is no real right or wrong, all comes down to personal preference. To see the closest to what it should look like to our RGB sensitive retina's, I guess just using Red, Green and Blue exposures might show you that..? otherwise...open slather.
Sticking to imaging galaxies, or even star clusters, is probably easier because the RGB process is pretty standard and straight forward and the visual appearance, in terms of colour of galaxies or stars, is a little more standard and known and way less open to artistic license
Mike
Hi Mike.
it certainly makes for a lovely, interesting image no matter
how the colours come out.
I have 3 technicolor versions with the same data on my Flickr photos.
The final one even has Green in it.
I just enjoyed seeing what you could do with the Tarantula
to the point where it felt like I was doing a Van Gogh painting.
I was mixing various amounts of Ha into Luminance and Red.
and we got the perfect result and prognosis of an all-clear 
...but this has, not surprisingly, resulted in a period where imaging took a reality check and a back seat. So it's been over two months between imaging drinks 
...of course I am not complaining in any way, I am very grateful for the outcome 
. Friday night was essentially shooting through the gaps and the occasional high cloud and with a FWHM of between 1.9" and 2.2" (not too bad) I decided to gamble and hope Sat night would have better seeing for the more important Ha and SII, so, I grabbed the OIII and RGB 
...the non-AO, non AE, mechanical auto guiding was superb!...the guide star centroid plot was mesmerising, essentially just quivering (ave errors of +/- 0.18 arc sec!! most of the night), happy.... 
, this was the goal. I wanted to showcase the depth and intricacies in the nebula structure, hoping for a kinda meaty solid 3D look that reveals the spacial depth, overall shape and structure but also reveals the wealth of colour nuances when this baby is imaged in 6 filters, while keeping the relative brightness of the dynamic range, natural looking (respecting the light). I also went for a, hopefully, more striking higher contrast look by not pushing the stretching, in order to keep the focus on the main arachnid show. When considering the details I was trying to extract, I had to keep reminding myself that this nebula is over 100X further away than the Orion Nebula! 
hope you like it 
I used all the NB filters and RGB, the result was always gonna be interesting..but that said, the colours are real and make sense and not that far from a true colour image 
Funnily enough from such a dark steady location normal LRGB combing is actually a lot easier really 
