6 panel mosaic of Simeis 147

[Martin-Devon]

It's taken me 5 weeks during March/April to accumulate 58 x 10 min subs in H-alpha (1xbin) across 6 different panels to make this composite mosaic. It's a huge and very faint target which is now rapidly setting in the West. In some ways this was a bonus though since the imaging runs always started when Simeis 147 was past the meridian, so no flip was needed. This is the second 'marathon' imaging run I've done this year to get all the data needed for a mosaic - they take a lot of work & patience, but the results in the end are satisfying.

Thanks for looking,

Martin

[MartinB]

That's breathtaking Martin and what dedication!

[Mattscar]

Wow, its shots like this that make me want to get into AP properly one day. Very nice.

[SnakeyJ]

That is an incredible image Martin and obviously a labour of love given the limited time available over the last couple of months. I like this very much as a mono nb image for the sharpness, clarity and depth. Are you thinking of coming back to it next year with some colour data?

[badgerchap]

Awesome Martin well done. From what I gather Simeis 147 is a bit of a toughie (I suppose which is why we don't see much of it!). Great image.

[AndyUK]

An excellent job Martin .

I would LOVE to have a crack at this one day... but not with my 314L+... At 3 degrees square, it would take me literally years to get a full image with my kit! The resolution you've achieved is superb...!

A couple of queries - I would imagine it was pretty tricky to frame from pane to pane(?) and can I also ask what you used to merge the panes?

[swag72]

That's a great looking image - I love this one. The Ha you have now will make a FANTASTIC RGB next year!!! Well done Martin, I think you've done a good job on this one.

[Coco]

Superb...

[Martin-Devon]

Just to reply to some of the questions:

Jake & Sara - yes I'd really like to get RGB data to add to the H-alpha but this will have to wait until later this year when this target is coming up in the East again.

Andy - for each frame I ensure there is roughly 10% overlap, I also take a snap-shot (using the snipping tool in Windows) of each panel in Luminence with the stars defocused in Artemis capture so they bloat a little, this really helps to see key star patterns and allows for easy matching of the exact orientation on repeat nights. I also take the RA/DEC values for each panel and the Mach-1 goes pretty much spot-on back to these on repeat nights, I just then fine-tune the framing. The actual mosaic was constructed in Photoshop using the Photomerge tool (File -> Automate -> Photomerge -> Interactive Layout) which I find fairly easy to use.

Martin

[andyo]

Fantastic image Martin.All that time and hard work has certainly paid off

[peter shah]

outstanding bit of work

[Gina]

WOW WOW WOW !! Wonderful - I think you've caught it all there Martin - that is truly magnificent :icon_salut: Sure was a marathon but with a tremendous result. I've now given up on that object for this year but I'll be trying again next year. I may narrow my field next time and do a mosaic.

I'll be onto galaxies now for a while I think.

[Ibbo!]

I have only tried once to do a DSO mosaic and your image tempts me to try again

only problem is I would need a few more panels to cover something this size

Lovely image good luck with the RGB

Steve

[SnakeyJ]

Just to reply to some of the questions:

Jake & Sara - yes I'd really like to get RGB data to add to the H-alpha but this will have to wait until later this year when this target is coming up in the East again.

Martin

Martin - It is absolutely stunning as it is and stands in its own right, but it will also make a fantastic luminance layer if you can capture the colour data at some point in the future. I'll keep an eye out for future developments! In the meantime I hope you won't mind if I take the liberty of making this my desktop wall paper

Jake

[Uranium235]

Your hard work has paid off in spades. Well done mate.

Rob

[The Viper]

Your time and effort paid off, excellent image, well done

[AndyUK]

Cheers Martin - I sometimes have a problem with photomerge in that sometimes it matches some of the panes together, but then there's sometimes one that it won't match, and this then splits the mosaic into 2 parts, until I can get the whole object However, when it fails I've found that MS ICE comes to the rescue (I guess it just uses a different algorithm?)

Thanks also for explaining your framing process - I guess I'm doing something fairly similar, although in NB sometimes it can be a bit of a headache - I probably ought to try out EQMOSAIC sometime...

[Mark72]

Spectacular work Martin,

What patience and dedication! I think it's rarely image at such resolution if ever at all. Such abundance of detail. I just wish you had a larger image to post here.

Mark

[laser_jock99]

Really nice work.

[MikeD]

Well worth all the time you have put into this, congrats.

Mike.

[look_up]

This is the second 'marathon' imaging run I've done this year to get all the data needed for a mosaic - they take a lot of work & patience, but the results in the end are satisfying.

Thanks for looking,

Martin

Understatement of the year?

Thats an excellent image

[Tim]

Picture of the week!

[Fay]

Superb Martin. i really want to get this one.

Fay

[sulaco]

Absolutely brilliant work, worth every bit.

[jackrussell0232]

No questions, this is a great, truly stunning, mosaic. Like the Paris-Roubaix - Just as impressive in monochrome. Wouldn't even have known it's a mosaic.

But a little voice inside my head is saying, "AP Mach 1 + Tak FSQ + Atik 460 = ". Sorry, tired, mid-Majorcan-cycling-training-camp, scope at home and green eyed monster at work/play.

I know it takes more than just the kit to grab a shot like this. Wish I too had the skill, and patience. This year... with Eq6 and AA115/DLSR ... I promise to catch something worth posting! May not be until the end of the year though....

Chapeau.