NGC7000 - North American Nebula

[Darth Takahashi]

Here is the North American Nebula in the Hubble pallet and HA.

I'm still a relative novice to the Hubble pallet adjustment and didn't want to overcook it? Most probably it can be pushed a little further?

The image was capture using the trusty ST10 and the BabyQ FSQ85 over the course of this month. I have been battling with the weather to complete this before my holidays start tomorrow!!!

12x 800sec HA

17x 600sec OIII (2x2binned)

15x 600sec SII (2x2binned)

I binned the OIII and SII since these are very weak in the nebula and don't contribute much in the way of detail. The HA data has been used as the GREEN channel and also a Luminance channel for the final image.

The HA data is a little wider since I have had some small alignment issues between sessions, still setting up and tearing down my kit each night / session

This is the alternative colour schema, I suppose that there is no wrong or right colour schema its just down to your personal preference?

Which one do you like?

[Andyfx]

Amazing! First one is my favourite

[bri]

They are all good but the higher contrast of the 2nd one gives better depth so that one pips it for me. lovely

[Gina]

Wonderful images - great detail I think I prefer the first though I'm not a fan of the Hubble Pallette, prefering the natural one.

[SlipperySquid]

Hi all, Neil emailed me his pre-stretched stack to have a go at the colours as he was not very happy with them...not "Hubbly" enough where I think his words, anyway with his Lordship enroute to the UK at the moment I cant email them to him yet so I thought I would post my results here (I know he wont mind )

The hubble palette is a personal one and my tastes switch all the time but I'm tending to go towards slightly more de-saturated look at the moment and trying to tease a bit of the cyan/turquoise/green colour you see on some hubble pics.

Anyways here's my effort, I think it looks more natural while still maintaining drama.

Hope this image works?

[Darth Takahashi]

Thanks Matt,

Here is the final version of my Hubble pallet. After seeing Matt version I have pushed the green out of the image further. However I also noticed that the SII stars needed to be reduced in size since they are causing too many small halos!!!

Here is the final version of the North American Nebula

[Tom OD]

Well done Neil, 1st one is my fav too.

Tom.

[Anweniel]

Actually I'm torn between the black and white version and the latest one, nothing really to do with the nebulosity just that all the others seem far too red in the stars for my taste. Fantastic detail though really is a lovely image

[SlipperySquid]

Nope you all have something wrong with your eyes or your monitors are broken? My version is the best The star colour etc can be processed out, I wasn't reprocessing the image just adjusting colour. What seems to happen with Hubble palette is pushing the colours to far, making for a poor blocky transition between colours, which ruins the effect of the nebula looking gaseous and makes it more look like it's been coloured in by a 4 year old with a wax crayon.

The top right of my image, the colour transition is smooth from an orange through to green/blue to blue.This is what I try to aim for in my images but rarely get it due to my ccd resolution and not enough time in certain channels.Where in Neils image there are only two dominant colours with none of the transitions. They yellow in the top right doesn't fade nicely into the blue if you get my drift.

Neil knows I struggle with my whispyness in my images and this is a great shot don't lose the whispyness mate

All my love,

Matt.

[Tim]

Hehehe, you'll open a can of worms asking which is the "best" version Neil. It's very subjective. There's a lot of anti-green amongst Hubble palette users at the moment, but I find that by removing the green and replacing it with blues you lose an element of the subtler gassy regions that dont otherwise stand out, and while the image might look prettier, is has less information in about the formation of the nebula etc.

Interestingly the HST team DO include green in their images, and to great effect, as in the classic M16

Ps, I prefer the one Squid uploaded, perhaps with a little boost to the luminosity of the image and wind down the magenta a bit, but the differences in the gases and the structure of the nebula are more obvious in that version to me

Cheers

Tim

[SlipperySquid]

Well said that man!

I too have read about the old..."There's no green in Hubble" from pretty experienced imagers as well! But it's there and readily visible.Ok more of a turquoise I admit,so some may say.".well it's more blue" but it's green to my eyes.

My image was not a full process just a colour tweak, Neil can do the hard work lol, he's a lot better than me at processing and getting detail from images. There's nothing more he enjoys than sitting on Skype telling me what I've done wrong but at least I dont look at colours like my eyeballs are covered in vaseline Ooooooo I'll get it for that one.

Clear skies all

And please remember myself and Neil are friends and this is just banter, I don't want the forum police coming to take me away!

Clear Skies all

Matt.

[morimarty]

A lovely set of images Neil. I think all versions have something to offer!

[Darth Takahashi]

In my opinion the only HONEST image here is the monochrome H Alpha!!!

I do appreciate all the points here but get a little worried when men start talking about "Turquoise" , it a GIRLS colour (no offence!)...

Seriously, there is an anti green philosophy with the Hubble pallet, if this is the right way to state it? I don't no where its right or wrong, what I do know is that my eyes prefer the GOLD and Blue colour schema and I have no objections to leaving in a slight GREEN transition. I'm still learning just like everyone else but the Hubble Pallet does feel very much like a moving target.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments and opinions; I might try the impossible = one move image; "NGC7000 - The Everyman Image" there again I might not...

[ollypenrice]

I have an anti-green philosophy in ALL astrophotos!!! (OK, some planetaries, and notably Thor's Helmet, have to be excused.) I also dislike haloes with a passion (I'll never be an angel...) so I'm going to vote for Neil's nicely de-haloed final version. I understand the logic and virtue of the Hubble palette but from an aesthetic POV I can't say I'm comfortable with it.

Just a thought; you can combine multiple NB layers in a monochrome image, though hardly anyone ever does so. I did it for fun with a Veil HaO111 and it looked dramatic.

Olly