Ou4 (and SH2 129): A Giant Squid Nebula and a Flying Bat

[Boren]

Hi guys,

Haven't been here for some time - with too much to do, and with our Namibia based observatory to put up... (a little bit on that, here: http://www.pbase.com/boren/southen_sky_gems_observatory)

Anyways, I have fallen for the squid since the first time I saw it, and was literally counting the months till its return to imaging alt.

In June it's finally arrived, and over June and July I spent several nights out in the Negev desert, with my sons Ben  and Kim, to tediously gather the data required.

The Officina Stellare F3 Veloce, riding the ASA 60Pro, have proven a good combo to deliver the necessary 20 min (unguided) OIII frames. As in Olly's post (accompanying his wonderful rendition of this same area) some time ago, I, too, have experienced a low contrast with Ha on this object. I was glad to see the OIII spread around the inner side of the Bat, just "under" the squid in this image. I have no idea why it's there, but it is... while I've also take special care to process it such that the teal-colored haze just shows.

You may like to check out the higher res image here: http://www.pbase.com/boren/image/157835661/original

Finally, I hope you like it, and any comments are, as always, very welcome.

Cheers,

Harel

[lensman57]

You must be kidding us, brilliant image of one of the faintest objects in the deep sky.

A.G

[swag72]

A stunning image for sure - Good to have you back!!!

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Great stuff. I love the squid and that may be the clearest one I've seen - the knots and loops really stand out. Looking closely though I think you may have a colour balance issue. While on the linked page you say "I have taken special care to maintain the accurate teal color of OIII - an even combination of blue and green.", your stars also have a teal halo and cast to my eye.

[PNJ]

This is just magic,  top draw,  i love this target. i was lucky to image it earlier this year and have it appear in Astronomy Now, but your version is just in another class all together.  

well done

Paul j

[PhotoGav]

Fantastic deep image!

I particularly love the gallery of pics of your Kalahari obsy. Now that's a serious piece of kit going on there!!

[Dave_D]

so clear i want to slap it in some batter and fry it up for tea

[Vox45]

Very nice indeed !

Well done

[carastro]

Excellent work and effort.

Carole

[ollypenrice]

This must be the best Squid on the net, Harel. You have extracted continuous signal for both poles which I certainly didn't manage to do. Quite extraordinary. The detection of outlying O111 is certainly a first for me, too. Maybe once you go deep enough in a narrowband filter there is probably something to be had in many parts of the Milky Way. Think of Fabian Neyer's Ha-embedded Double Cluster.

Chapeau! This is the one.

Olly

[Lars]

Really a magificient image of the bat and the clearly the best I've seen so far. There seems to be a blue-green halo around the stars though I don't know if this is due to processing or if there is an OIII  haze in the area colouring the stars.

/Lars

[Tom OD]

Smashing pic. Looks so smooth given its low signal. Great work. 

Tom

[PatrickGilliland]

Stunning shot - very impressed

Paddy

[Boren]

You must be kidding us, brilliant image of one of the faintest objects in the deep sky.

A.G

Thank you AG. I am happ you liked it. Ineed I think it was the faintest I had ever  had a shot at. Imaging - at F3 on Blue Bin2 - 20 min. exposure out of the desert, you could see NOTHING. That stunned me.

Cheers,

Harel

[Boren]

A stunning image for sure - Good to have you back!!!

Thanks Sara,

This is one of the nicest forums around the world. Always a nice image, always something to learn, and all in such fun environment. I LIKE it here!

Cheers,

Harel

[gingergeek]

Been away for a while but this is a great image to come back to, great work Boren

[Gina]

Beautiful image   Very well done

[Mr Bergman]

Wow! Spectacular imaging! Something from the "Outter-space":-)

[Boren]

Great stuff. I love the squid and that may be the clearest one I've seen - the knots and loops really stand out. Looking closely though I think you may have a colour balance issue. While on the linked page you say "I have taken special care to maintain the accurate teal color of OIII - an even combination of blue and green.", your stars also have a teal halo and cast to my eye.

Thank you for making this note Sir

It is a very important issue you're touching upon. In fact it touches upon the topic of what is the "reality" that we are actually taking an Astro photo of...

True, in RGB the image does not include any green blue halos around the stars. It is only upon adding the OIII data that the image has changed to significantly - to include the squid, a bluish greenish halo around the whole center of the image, and significant  OIII tint to the stars throughout the most of the image. Is this the reality of the subject photographed? Is this what we are actually looking at? I believe that the answer is both a yes and a no...

The contents of the image, at the end of the day, consists of the combination of frequencies recorded by the camera chip. We have a lot of control upon what is being recorded by simply placing a variety of filters which impact the final image - by filtering-in certain frequencies, while filtering-out others. As an example: ultraviolet light is eliminated from this image by the filters not letting this frequency through. Same goes for infrared light as well as x-rays – the image would have taken a completely different form had we allowed these frequencies in. 

Now to the point of this particular image: I have indeed felt uncomfortable with the stars and some other areas taking a different form than that which I we are used to in normal L/RGB images. I have therefore chosen an intermediary path by maintaining most of the star color from the RGB image but still allowing a substantial amount of OIII to come through - both between the stars, and around them. By the way, the immediate link of OIII into the green and the blue, had the effect of nearly "blinding" the stars of most color... Was it "wrong" to have presented the image that way? Not really. Just as the path I've taken, to bring through most of the RGB, is not inherently "right" in my opinior. It just seems to me as a reasonable compromise in reflecting the various frequencies that have been allowed to play a part in the final image. 

I hope this all makes sense to you, and would love to hear your thoughts as well.

Cheers,

Harel

[Boren]

This is just magic,  top draw,  i love this target. i was lucky to image it earlier this year and have it appear in Astronomy Now, but your version is just in another class all together.  

well done

Paul j

Thank you Paul! I have't seen your image I think - could you place a link to it too?

Regarding Astronomy Now, I ready it every time I pass through London. Actually, I wanted to send them some images of mine, but could never decipher what was the way to do so... Could you help me with the mail / box I could send any images to?

Thanks again, and Cheers,

Harel

[Boren]

Fantastic deep image!

I particularly love the gallery of pics of your Kalahari obsy. Now that's a serious piece of kit going on there!!

Thank you Gav. It's been my 4th time in Namibia, but this time was all work... we are still fine tuning the system, and look forward to start on with some "real" imaging soon.

Cheers,

Harel

[Boren]

Excellent work and effort.

Carole

Thank you Dave, Vox, Carol,

I am very happy you liked it !

Cheers,

Harel

[Boren]

This must be the best Squid on the net, Harel. You have extracted continuous signal for both poles which I certainly didn't manage to do. Quite extraordinary. The detection of outlying O111 is certainly a first for me, too. Maybe once you go deep enough in a narrowband filter there is probably something to be had in many parts of the Milky Way. Think of Fabian Neyer's Ha-embedded Double Cluster.

Chapeau! This is the one.

Olly

This must be the best Squid on the net, Harel. You have extracted continuous signal for both poles which I certainly didn't manage to do. Quite extraordinary. The detection of outlying O111 is certainly a first for me, too. Maybe once you go deep enough in a narrowband filter there is probably something to be had in many parts of the Milky Way. Think of Fabian Neyer's Ha-embedded Double Cluster.

Chapeau! This is the one.

Olly

Thank you so much Olly. I found much inspiration in your work, which I find to be truly marvelous.

Re Fabian's Double Cluster - as with so many other images of his, it's so immensly beautiful and inspiring. I just love his imaging.

Thanks again, and all the best,

Cheers,

Harel

[lensman57]

Thank you AG. I am happ you liked it. Ineed I think it was the faintest I had ever  had a shot at. Imaging - at F3 on Blue Bin2 - 20 min. exposure out of the desert, you could see NOTHING. That stunned me.

Cheers,

Harel

Thank you Harel for making my mind up not to tackel this target. For some time I have been fooling myself thinking that with the longer winter evenings and my Quattro 8s @ f3.6 I could get something from my light polluted Manchester back garden. I think that I pass on this one and leave it to the experts. Brilliant image and a joy to look at.

Regards,

A.G

[Boren]

Really a magificient image of the bat and the clearly the best I've seen so far. There seems to be a blue-green halo around the stars though I don't know if this is due to processing or if there is an OIII  haze in the area colouring the stars.

/Lars

Thanks Lars, You are right - I have just replied to the Knight on this matter - please see above. I'd love to hear your thoughts too.

All the best, Cheers,

Harel