Somebody liked our Cocoon.

[ollypenrice]

Another Olly, Tom and Yves marathon, though only 40 hours this time. Bone idle. 

http://www.aapodx2.com/2015/20150312.html

Olly

[Tinker1947]

Well its another master piece, a question....if the human eye had the ability and  could see the same area of sky with the same magnification would it look that colour....as we only see shades of grey normally...

[frostynixon]

Well done!

[ghostdance]

Well its another master piece, a question....if the human eye had the ability and  could see the same area of sky with the same magnification would it look that colour....as we only see shades of grey normally...

I think the operable phrase here is ' "if the human eye had the ability"...

From my position of sheer opthalmological ignorance, I reckon we could.

Golly but we'd have those spooky goldfish eyes!

Telescope sales would plummet  

On the other hand, neck brace sales would go through the roof  

[ollypenrice]

Well its another master piece, a question....if the human eye had the ability and  could see the same area of sky with the same magnification would it look that colour....as we only see shades of grey normally...

I don't think so. In a sense this is two images in one. The Cocoon and stars are a 'normal' astrophoto in which the faint Cocoon is stretched in brightness into visibility. (When I last looked at this in a scope I couldn't see the Cocoon but only the absence of stars in the dust lanes)

Then there's the deep red Ha background. This is both incredibly faint and very low in colour saturation. By taking such an insane amount of Ha data we could bring it into the picture with sufficient brightness and colour saturation for it to become visible. So we didn't invent it but we present it in an exaggerated form.

To see this in the sky we would need eyes which were not only extremely sensitive but which also had enough dynamic range to go from the very faint to the very bright. Astrophotographers don't just collect more light over time, they also manipulate the dynamic range to make a wider range visible to the eye.

Olly

[LukeSkywatcher]

I like it but the cocoon looks a bit lost in such a wide field image.

[happy-kat]

Perfect gentle pink bloom for mother's day

[ollypenrice]

I like it but the cocoon looks a bit lost in such a wide field image.

For your eyes only;

lly (and Yves. We did this in the TEC together then added a bit from his ODK14.)

[barkis]

Top Drawer as usual Olly.

Of course Yves has to have a mention.

Quite a collaboration the two of have developed, and Apods put you on 

the world stage Astro Imaging wise.

One might think two would be half the work involved,

but perhaps twice the work would describe it better. Whichever it is,

it's bringing some magic results    .

Ron

[ian_bird]

Olly

Serious question here.

What does http://www.aapodx2.com/ have to do with http://apod.nasa.gov/ ?

Are they in anyway linked?

I have seen a load of astrophotographers (OK - one astrophotographer) claim on multiple occasions that he had his picture selected as APOD - but in reality it was www.aapodx2.com/

Olly - whilst that is one of your usual great images - could you explain to me what the two web sites have in common? APOD is an honour. What is www.aapodx2.com/ ?

Like I said - serious question.

Cheers

Ian

[Moonshane]

Both images are achingly beautiful.

[ollypenrice]

Olly

Serious question here.

What does http://www.aapodx2.com/ have to do with http://apod.nasa.gov/ ?

Are they in anyway linked?

I have seen a load of astrophotographers (OK - one astrophotographer) claim on multiple occasions that he had his picture selected as APOD - but in reality it was www.aapodx2.com/

Olly - whilst that is one of your usual great images - could you explain to me what the two web sites have in common? APOD is an honour. What is www.aapodx2.com/ ?

Like I said - serious question.

Cheers

Ian

I think the AAPOD site is unconnected with the APOD one and is derivative of it in terms of the name.  It doesn't have the same caché by a long way. However, APOD often uses professional images while AAPOD , by definition, never does. However, it gets folks looking at picures of the night so I'm in favour. I think the original AAPOD was connected with charity fundraising too, but I don't know about the second incarnation.

Olly

[swag72]

A great picture Olly and deservedly given the accolade - Like Luke though I prefer your TEC / ODK version