Melotte 15 bicolour

[x6gas]

Like several other SGLers I've been pointing my scope in the direction of IC1805 / Sh-2 190 - the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia on the rare clear night we've had.  I have a wider field covering most the Heart, but this is a crop of the central star cluster, Melotte 15 (to the right in this image).  The framing and colour scheme are a shameless copy of - or perhaps I should say an homage to - a 2012 APOD of this object.

I plan to point a lot more focal length at this at some point in the future but I am pretty pleased with this for an 85mm scope under a suburban sky.

This is 13 x 1200s of Ha and the same again of OIII.

Scope: Takahashi FSQ85EDX

Mount: CGEM DX

Camera: Atik 490ex

Guiding: IMG0H; Atik OAG; PHD

Thanks for looking, Ian

[Martin-Devon]

It's a great image Ian - I especially like the way you've drawn the lightness out, it really elevates the image.

Martin

[baggywrinkle]

Very nice indeed, love the way the gas clouds seem to give depth even in a 2d image.

[wxsatuser]

Nice image.....well done.

[Mark72]

Nice work Ian, not sure if all stars are blue in this area,

Mark

[andyo]

Nice capture very good contrast

[x6gas]

It's a great image Ian - I especially like the way you've drawn the lightness out, it really elevates the image.

Martin

Thanks very much Martin.  I have to admit to being really pleased with this one, given the kit I was using.  Takahashi really do make great little scopes.  I was inspired by that APOD image, but I do like my version - it's an image that I keep looking at, liking, and being a little bit surprised that I produced it!

Very nice indeed, love the way the gas clouds seem to give depth even in a 2d image.

Thanks baggywrinkle.  Yes I deliberately sharpened only the pillar running through the star cluster in the hope that would then draw the eye and give depth.  The APOD image has the pillar running along one of the 'rule of thirds' lines and I've copied that here.  Seems to work... for me at least.

Nice image.....well done.

Thanks wxsatuser

Nice work Ian, not sure if all stars are blue in this area,

Mark

Ah yes - no fooling you Mark!  You are quite correct.  There are a lot of hot blue stars in this area - it's star forming, after all - but there are also some nice red stars too.  The star colour is largely lost in this bicolour rendition.  I'm not sure if it made a difference, but I did only use two channels for this (rather than three channels with two using the same data) and set OIII to blue and Ha to yellow to get this result.  Getting good star colour is beyond my level of competence with only two filters - maybe I'll be able to get something when I add the SII... but yes, fair cop!

Nice capture very good contrast

Thanks Andy - much appreciated!