NGC3576 - HST nb

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

I've wanted to image the loops for years (it was beyond my old 4 inch and 350D) and Mr Wards recent posting inspired me to try.

I had the push the exposures with the 5 inch which necessitated a lot of em to reduce the noise down to where it is now - could be more but unfortunately I am not indepently wealthy and work gets in the way of my hobby.

This is mapped as Ha (420), SII (60), Ha (60), OIII (60) all binned 1x1 - exposure subs ranged from 30 seconds to 10 minutes (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 min) to allow manually reduced the overexposed sections - Im not too happy with the manual HDR processing - might have to get more short exposure data and EasyHDR or similar.

Anyway this is the first process - hope it looks ok - again i am on the observatory computer - I used several of your grayscale cards to calibrate but I still dont know if it is right - particularly wrt colour.

Astrophysics EDT130, SBIG ST8300M, Astronomik 6 nm filters

Stacked in Maxim Dl, then CS2 and some MLDB and selective smoothing especially aroung the foreground cloud edge (thx Mr Crawford) - ps I like the colour subtle - this was done deliberately and I know others dont but what the heck - smile - It'd be boring if we all produced the same images
Mark Bolton

[TrevorW]

I like it Mark

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Thx Trevor

When I process I usually end up with 12 or so images open and I often save the wrong final image - Alzheiners? As was so in this case - I have now replaced it with correct image with the selective background smoothing applied.

MB

[madwayne (Wayne)]

Nice image Mark. Peter has certainly started something with his post of this most unusual object.

Well done!

Wayne

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very cool shot Mark. I like how you got those psychedelic colors in both cores. My eyes are still flashing. I thought it was left overs from reading Jase's dutch astro-thread. ... oh wait! Am I the only one seeing that?

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Thx Guys

Yeah Wayne - but I dont think he'll be too worried - His RCOS image with colour will be stupendous when he finishes it.

Marc - yeah its that colour in the core that is one of things that worries me. Hopefully I can at least tone it down a bit with more data. Might just try desaturating some of the channels when i get time. Maybe a HDR software fix will also help - maybe next weekend but I was intending to do some RGB on it without the moon - anyway time for the 3 hour drive home now - time to go from scopes to undergrads - now thats a letdown

MB

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Mark,

The image looks really good. Fabulous detail.

Frank

[troypiggo (Troy)]

It's beautiful, Mark.

[gregbradley]

That's a beauty Mark. Nice and vibrant, great stars, very sharp and detailed and nice image scale. Lovely.

You've got yourself some nice gear there and it shows.

Greg.

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Thx Frank Troy and Greg

I know that my taste in palettes might be a bit boring but i like my colours like I like my women - subtle (ouch - thats my wife elbowing me - shouldn't have spoken as I typed - real subtle darling).Not that I mind vibrant colours either but well im a pretty beige kind of guy - damn when did I become old?

I have repro'd it to reduce the brighter regions (desturated the reds - SII - a bit) but I will wait for more data before I post agin. Interesting that there is a concentration of SII in those 2 regions.

Anyway Thx for the comments guys

Mark Bolton

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Lovely composition Mark and some great detail captured.

Not quite sure why you like the colour or rather lack of like this but I am sure once you have played a bit more you will come around

Mike

[Dean]

Excellent and an interesting nebula too

[Hagar (Doug)]

Nice one Mark. Not quite the colour intensity I've come to expect but it does a nice job of highlighting the detail and structure in the nebulosity.
A nice alternative to the standard HST image.
Well done.

[Jeffkop (Jeff)]

Ditto everyones comments Mark. Fabulous image. Theres a whole lot to like about it. Ide be pretty excited about the whole astro photography thing if I were getting results like this.

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Thx all - yep I am struggling with the saturation slider. I found if I saturated the colour I started to lose subtle detail in the cloud edge - which was what I was chasing - It does look ok with a bit more colour but I am battling with RGB on it at the moment so that is a job for the full moon. Might post a prelim tonight of the object in LRGB

We've had the best night last night (and hopefully tonight) that we've had for 12 months at Leyburn - rock steady, dark, transparent etc - so I have no excuse if I cant post something this weekend - apart from me stuffing up I suppose

Thanx guys - feedback gives confidence (even if my tastes are a bit weird)

Mark Bolton

[TrevorW]

This is in no way meant to criticize your image

this is not technically NGC3576 as listed here and elsewhere by others but several nebula as per this link which are often just grouped as being NGC3576 for convienience

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/ngc3576.html

[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Interesting trevor - Interesting web page too - i've never seen it before - will have a better look later - will definately be handy.

MB