Merope Nebula (part of M45)

[Mark72]

Hi,

It's rarely that this is imaged close-up.

Here is my attempt.

LRGB: 200:70:70:70

http://www.astrobin.com/22143/B/?mod=

Thanks for looking!

Mark

[Bob Andersson]

Hi Mark,

I'm struggling to understand the processing as the bit depth seems to have got lost. Compare with my image here. Unless you were aiming for a "look" maybe it would be worth going back over your processing workflow to try and see where the expected smooth graduations in tone got lost?

Bob.

[ollypenrice]

Excellent. I believe the faint hints of red behind the Merope nebula are correct and rarely seen.

Another thought; the 'tail of stars' running out of the main cluster has some trails of nebulosity created as the stars move through the dusty background. These would also look brilliant with the same approach. Bob's recent M45 showed them beautifully.

Olly

[Mark72]

Hi Bob,

I feel you are mistaken. Your image is a wide field and covers a huge area where M45 is floating in the dust which should be mostly red. I'm waiting for nice weather to get on this with Hyperstar.

Merope nebula is a tiny part of it - just a gas surrounding the star; also the same nebulosity comes from the neighbour stars. It's all blue and what it not blue did not get into the frame. Compare with this one:

http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/MeropeNM.html

Having said this RGB was not great as I have huge reflections and had to use 3 min subs. May be I need to revisit it later.

Mark

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice and highly detailed image. The Merope nebula is not gass, it is dust. It is simply reflecting blue light from Merope.

[Bob Andersson]

Hi Mark,

Judging by the other responses it would seem that my tablet is badly mangling the image (just nine levels of brightness/colour from the star to the backgriund) so please accept my apology for a lukewarm response. I'll look forward to revisiting the image when I can view it on the big monitor, a time when I also want to make better use of my own red data to rework my own effort.

Bob.

[ollypenrice]

Hi Bob,

I feel you are mistaken. Your image is a wide field and covers a huge area where M45 is floating in the dust which should be mostly red. I'm waiting for nice weather to get on this with Hyperstar.

Merope nebula is a tiny part of it - just a gas surrounding the star; also the same nebulosity comes from the neighbour stars. It's all blue and what it not blue did not get into the frame. Compare with this one:

http://www.robgendle...m/MeropeNM.html

Having said this RGB was not great as I have huge reflections and had to use 3 min subs. May be I need to revisit it later.

Mark

Mark, it was I who said that you had some reds behind the Merope nebula and I can see them clearly in Gendler's image. As Michael says, this is a dusty reflection nebula so the dust further from Merope should have that reddish look which I feel it does in your image. I think you are right on the money. In Gendler's the reds are very strong on the right, of course, but are also seen peeping through little gaps in the blue just outside the Merope nebula.

Olly

[Mark72]

Thanks for response and corrections guys

Bob,

No problems, may be you'll look again and arrive at the same conclusion;)

Mark

[Mark72]

surprisingly it could be seen in the top of the page

http://www.astrobin.com/

Sorry for spam - could not resist temptation to share;)

Mark