Cats Paw Nebula in Ha

Hagar (Doug) · #1 22-09-2010, 10:07 AM

A second clear night in a row so I couldn't hold back.
I imaged the Cats Paw Nebula in Ha with GSORC10 and Atik 11002M with a Baader 7nm Ha filter.
Combination of 10 X 10 minute exposures combined using CCDStack and finished off in PS CS4.
The black spots in the image look like I need to capture a new set of dark files. The image was cropped a little to remove the seagulls from the corners until my FF arrives.

The second image was processed with a complete new set of dark frames and boy what a difference they make.

Hi Res Version http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/displayi...278&fullsize=1

leon · #2 22-09-2010, 10:21 AM

beautiful image Doug, I love the HA imaging, well done indeed, have to agree though those clear nights are few and far between.

Leon

ptc (Richard) · #3 22-09-2010, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

A second clear night in a row so I couldn't hold back.
I imaged the Cats Paw Nebula in Ha with GSORC10 and Atik 11002M with a Baader 7nm Ha filter.
Combination of 10 X 10 minute exposures combined using CCDStack and finished off in PS CS4.
The black spots in the image look like I need to capture a new set of dark files. The image was cropped a little to remove the seagulls from the corners until my FF arrives.

nice data but you have overdone the sharpening in my assessment. Try it without any sharpening and then with a very slight amount and show us both: I'd be interested in the result

multiweb (Marc) · #4 22-09-2010, 11:25 AM

That looks great! So sharp. Love it!

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #5 22-09-2010, 11:47 AM

Super work Doug!
Love it.

gregbradley · #6 22-09-2010, 11:54 AM

Great result Doug. The oversharpening takes a bit off the result but you got a lot of detail there I haven't seen before.
With selective sharpening its a good practice to block the stars from the sharpening layer. You do that by simply reversing the white/black so now what you rub or click on blocks the sharpening layer rather than show it. I normally just use the eyedropper tool and set a small circle and click on the oversharpened stars leaving the areas that can take the sharpening only and not the stars which always look too harsh otherwise.

That second ball type neb near the bottom has a lot of detail that almost looks like a supernova remnant. Very interesting. Worth a long focal length image I reckon.

Greg.

Alchemy (Clive) · #7 22-09-2010, 04:45 PM

Looks really good Doug .... close up of the tendrils would be nice too.

Hagar (Doug) · #8 22-09-2010, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

beautiful image Doug, I love the HA imaging, well done indeed, have to agree though those clear nights are few and far between.

Leon

Thanks Leon, Have you left on your big holiday yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptc

nice data but you have overdone the sharpening in my assessment. Try it without any sharpening and then with a very slight amount and show us both: I'd be interested in the result

Thanks Richard, I tend to think I over did the sharpening a bit. Something I am always guilty of. I have to come to terms with the mix of detail and asthetics. I will post the 3 images you requested soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

That looks great! So sharp. Love it!

Thanks Mark, As Richard said probably a little to sharp. I just get carried away with some good data, considering the amount of nights I get to image these days I am not to worried about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Super work Doug!
Love it.

Thanks Jeanette. Been a while between images.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Great result Doug. The oversharpening takes a bit off the result but you got a lot of detail there I haven't seen before.
With selective sharpening its a good practice to block the stars from the sharpening layer. You do that by simply reversing the white/black so now what you rub or click on blocks the sharpening layer rather than show it. I normally just use the eyedropper tool and set a small circle and click on the oversharpened stars leaving the areas that can take the sharpening only and not the stars which always look too harsh otherwise.

That second ball type neb near the bottom has a lot of detail that almost looks like a supernova remnant. Very interesting. Worth a long focal length image I reckon.

Greg.

Thanks Greg, I will give it a go but I must get some reasonable darks first then work on my flats a bit more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alchemy

Looks really good Doug .... close up of the tendrils would be nice too.

Thanks Clive. I will post an image of the tendrill area.

peter_4059 (Peter) · #9 22-09-2010, 06:19 PM

That's a really striking image Doug. Can't remember seeing the cats paw in Ha before. Great work.

Peter

mill (Martin) · #10 22-09-2010, 06:28 PM

Doug that looks very good and with lots of detail

And only 10x10 Minutes.

Hagar (Doug) · #11 22-09-2010, 06:29 PM

3 levels of sharpening.

Image 1 is the working Master image that all others were taken from with no sharpening.

Image 2 is an image with minimal selective sharpening.

Image 3 is a heavilly sharpened image.

Image 4 is a crop of the tendrill area as requested Clive.

RobF (Rob) · #12 22-09-2010, 07:24 PM

You'll probably be able to get some great results with a bit of deconvolution at the FL that RC10 will be running at too Doug....

Great shot too BTW

Paddy (Patrick) · #13 22-09-2010, 08:30 PM

You're certainly off to a flying start with your new scope, Doug. Seems like only yesterday you were breaking in the 8". Looking forward to more.

marki · #14 22-09-2010, 08:34 PM

Looking good Doug

Mark

Hagar (Doug) · #15 22-09-2010, 10:47 PM

New image after a reprocess with a new set of Dark Frames. This has made a huge improvement and removed all the small dark marks scattered over the image. No touching up done only some selective sharpening and I mean very selective this time.

High Res Version
http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/displayi...278&fullsize=1

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #16 22-09-2010, 10:57 PM

Now that's a real improvement. Beautiful.

ptc (Richard) · #17 22-09-2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

New image after a reprocess with a new set of Dark Frames. This has made a huge improvement and removed all the small dark marks scattered over the image. No touching up done only some selective sharpening and I mean very selective this time.

High Res Version
http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/displayi...278&fullsize=1

better on the sharpening.

now it is time to boost up the brightness... use photoshop's levels adjustment and move the middle slider....

Hagar (Doug) · #18 22-09-2010, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptc

better on the sharpening.

now it is time to boost up the brightness... use photoshop's levels adjustment and move the middle slider....

Done.

TrevorW · #19 23-09-2010, 12:00 AM

Not bad but IMO with HA, Doug I'd go for 15 minute subs at least

ptc (Richard) · #20 23-09-2010, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

Done.

better

now it is time to work on the stars: use photoshop: select/highlights
then select/expand 2 pixels

then select/feather 2 pixels

then use filter/blur/gaussian blur by 1 or 2 pixels

that will eliminate the "flat tops" on the stars and make them look more natural instead of sharp-edged