Back in 2015 we did the top left quarter of this image (in H-alpha and OIII), and commented on the striking resemblance to the "nose" of a bottle-nosed dolphin.
Here we've completed a 4 panel mosaic of the entire Gourd nebula, all in OIII.
Aspen CG16M on 20" PlaneWave CDK. 3nM Astrodon filter. Processing using GoodLook 64. Final 50% reduction in image size in CS5.
The whole nebula does look like a gourd fruit, but it still has strong echoes of an ice sculpture of a dolphin broaching the surface.
Weather has been hot, with appalling seeing almost all the time, but it doesn't look like it's about to get any better. Perhaps a workable approach is to do half-nights in Spring and half-nights in Autumn, rather than whole nights in Summer, but interestingly, the final image with the 20" in a Central Western NSW heat wave is not too different to the image from the Atacama with a six inch scope! As the estate agent said, "Location, Location, Aperture".
That's fantastic detail. As you say very similar to the Atacama teams image. I am hoping to see a colour version from you sometime in the next year or so.
WOW, just Wow and wow again guys - the detail - oh my goodness.
I spent 15+ hrs on that thing last year and got a HM at the Malins for it but now it looks like I shot it with a pinhole camera compared to your image.
Epic work, M&T! My only criticism is that there seems to be a little of the decon wormy look? Could be my eyesight, perhaps. I've been up for 28 hours and need to go to bed soon (US work trip...)
I've been fascinated with this thing ever since I saw the first image of it on FB recently. I'd love to image it, but I don't recall seeing an OSC or RGB image of it. Is it strictly a narrow band object?
Quite an amazing view guys, fun to pan around too. Yes I too see the worms but I think you like'em ... so, like magenta stars in NB images, which I am partial too , I'll ignore them
Great vista, really well done (apart from the worms arhem..), can't wait for the colour version
That's fantastic detail. As you say very similar to the Atacama teams image. I am hoping to see a colour version from you sometime in the next year or so.
Thanks, Paul. We've done a bit of H-alpha. It's rather fainter, more diffuse, and sparser than the OIII. It will take quite a bit to make it convincing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
WOW, just Wow and wow again guys - the detail - oh my goodness.
I spent 15+ hrs on that thing last year and got a HM at the Malins for it but now it looks like I shot it with a pinhole camera compared to your image.
Aperture sure is king!
Thanks muchly, Andy. Thrilled that you like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by graham.hobart
as the teenagers say
"OMFG"
that's rather splendid !
Cheers, Graham! Oh to be young again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peter_4059
Beautiful image. Nice to see something different.
Thanks Peter. Our small FOV meant we had to do 4 panels to get it all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
An incredibly good image M&T. Love the 3D look. I also hope to see some colour at some stage.
Cheers
Steve
Thanks Steve. It does look like a solid ice sculpture. We're encouraged to try to collect some H-alpha.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Epic work, M&T! My only criticism is that there seems to be a little of the decon wormy look? Could be my eyesight, perhaps. I've been up for 28 hours and need to go to bed soon (US work trip...)
Cheers,
Rick.
You are right, Rick. There is a hint of over-deconvolution, which is odd since we only did 5 rounds. Might have another go at processing it, using just wavelet sharpening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by topheart
Wow! Very detailed and sharp indeed.
Best Regards,
Tim
Thanks kindly, Tim.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cometcatcher
Incredible detail M&T!
I've been fascinated with this thing ever since I saw the first image of it on FB recently. I'd love to image it, but I don't recall seeing an OSC or RGB image of it. Is it strictly a narrow band object?
Thanks, Kevin. Reckon there's very little there apart from OIII and a bit of H-alpha, so guessing you'd need a dark site and a moonless night to do it with OSC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Quite an amazing view guys, fun to pan around too. Yes I too see the worms but I think you like'em ... so, like magenta stars in NB images, which I am partial too , I'll ignore them
Great vista, really well done (apart from the worms arhem..), can't wait for the colour version
Mike
Thanks muchly, Mike. As mentioned before, we might have to have another go at processing without any decon, and compare. We'll try to find some other shots to compare with. Perhaps we'll be lazy and wait till we have some H-alpha.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bart
Very nice, top view!
Cheers, Bart!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cometcatcher
I don't see any worms in it. anyway, I am the worm master. I do see some fainter tails streaking to the right. Like a registry missalign?
Thanks again, Kevin. The slight tails streaking to the right are a fundamental defect in the camera, related to the double sampling mechanism. They are always worst in OIII. You'd think that they'd be easy to remove in software. Don't want to send the camera away - separation anxiety. Could just bolt the camera on rotated at different angles and the existing statistical outlier rejection would make them vanish! They are definitely not tracking error or optics. We've come to put up with them.
Many thanks to everyone for both the much needed encouragement in this hot and steamy summer, and the sensible critiques.
Well that is quite a magic image. Love this object. Its interesting that it was largely unimaged just a few years ago. Marco did the first serious image that I have seen.
Now we have a new high rez example. Nice and patient work.
Details great, quietly ignoring worms but given conditions it's still pretty cool.
For the record, if you look to the dolphin there is definitely a wallaby inside it.
Thanks, David! We're still trying to find the escaped wallaby (ignoring the sixty or so full sized roo outside the observatory as I type). Any hints are most welcome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Well that is quite a magic image. Love this object. Its interesting that it was largely unimaged just a few years ago. Marco did the first serious image that I have seen.
Now we have a new high rez example. Nice and patient work.
Greg.
Thanks muchly, Greg. Just had another look at Marco's shot. Beautiful. Lovely star colours, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atmos
Looks fantastic MnT! Quite a seldom images object but seeing the whole thing in full narrowband would be fantastic
Thanks, Colin. We can see we're going to have to do H-alpha. Wonder if there is any NII there?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross G
Wow!
What an amazing monochrome photo Mike & Trish.
So sharp and detailed and I love the closeup.
Ross.
Cheers Ross. Nice to hear from you. We've not been to an Epping astro-imaging meeting for a while, what with Christmas and cattle and kitchen renovations.
Thanks, David! We're still trying to find the escaped wallaby (ignoring the sixty or so full sized roo outside the observatory as I type). Any hints are most welcome....
... so, like magenta stars in NB images, which I am partial too 
, I'll ignore them 
