New Year's Eve Jellyfish and Heart

[ChrisLX200]

Despite weeks of neglect all my gear worked faultlessly, and I even remembered how it works ;-) The skies were generally clear but the rig got rained on (well, spotted on) around 8pm but I carried on regardless. Transparency was rather poor but remained usable until about 4am - just when I attempted to go for comet Catelina, and I gave it up at around 5am.

So I was just glad to do _something_ with the scope, and these two targets were in a good position throughout the night. The Jellyfish (Sh2-249) is 7 x 1800s using a 3nM Ha filter, still a bit noisy which is surprising really and I may try to re-process to see if it was something I did. It is badly under-sampled using the G4-16000 so fine detail is lost compared to an image I took last year using my Atik490EX.

Full res: http://s970.photobucket.com/user/ChrisLX200/media/Astro%20-%20Images%20G4-16000/Sh2-249%20HA%20ST_zpsl4izla2v.jpg.html

My second target was the Heart Nebula (ic1805) which was lacking the SII channel needed to create an HST palette image. It's still short of some OIII data which makes colour balancing difficult. Still not happy with the result as I was looking for a stronger blue but I cannot stretch it further, so overall the the colours are... meh.

This is the centre part (Melotte 15), then another crop, and finally the whole thing (which won't show detail on here so need to go look at the full res version). Another clear night would sort the issues but at this rate looking around mid-Feb for the next one...

ChrisH

[Owmuchonomy]

I'll be honest Chris, my personal preference is the mono jellyfish.  Can't stop looking at the depth even from just the Ha.  It's controversial I know but the other coloured images though spectacular don't do it for me.  

[Barry-Wilson]

Fine images Chris and a magnificent FOV with the G4-16000.

Is the noise on the Jellyfish simply a result of the loss of contrast with the transparency?  (I noticed this too last night, it certainly worsened from about midnight onwards).

I like the Heart renditions too, very crisp Melotte-15.  Perhaps try dialling down the saturation a touch.

I had the 8pm shower too but it was great to be out imaging after such a long wait.

[Astroboffin]

I'll be honest Chris, my personal preference is the mono jellyfish. Can't stop looking at the depth even from just the Ha. It's controversial I know but the other coloured images though spectacular don't do it for me.

It's personal opinion I guess but, "they do it for me" they are awesome, and very inspiring

Just my opinion.

AB

[ollypenrice]

I've recently done the Jelly in 3nm Ha and I think that you've just suffered slightly from loss of transparency. The backgound values are a tad high but you've caught the pointed, pennant-like feature dropping down frm below the left had bright star. I think this is a lovely result. A bit more data from a really transparent night would nail good and proper.

As for the Heart, well, yes, there you go! No comment needed. 

Olly

[theo]

Very nice images Chris.  There are some star elongation issues showing in the Jellyfish image, particularly in the far right hand upper and lower corners when viewing at full resolution but otherwise this looks very promising indeed.

Pete

[ChrisLX200]

Thanks all! Yes, the colours in the Heart neb need a strong talking-to I think ;-)

I recall what I did with the Jellyfish whilst half awake @ 4am - ran the Wipe module @75% to remove a gradient and knock down the background a bit (caused by a hazy sky). It did that all right but has left the grainy background. I think I should have controlled the process all in PS instead for this one. I will try again (long wait for next clear night sadly so plenty of time).

ChrisH

[ChrisLX200]

A more subdued version for the colour-vision impaired.... sheesh, no taste some folk...

ChrisH

[laudropb]

Very nice set of images.

[Barry-Wilson]

I love the reprocess Chris - simply majestic.

[matt-c]

Excellent as usual as Chris!

I actually prefer the first heart colour it's a little different and that yellow/golden colour looks wonderful.

Each to their own I guess.

[ollypenrice]

Excellent as usual as Chris!

I actually prefer the first heart colour it's a little different and that yellow/golden colour looks wonderful.

Each to their own I guess.

Me too. I feel it had more to say and I'm not one for green in NB palettes even if the Hubble team like them! Maybe just knock the Mk1 saturation down a bit but I prefer the warmer glow. C'mon, hearts have to be warm!

lly

[ChrisLX200]

Many thanks! I must say I didn't really like the first one as much, it was a 4a.m. process which never turns out well..! I just wish I had more data and I'm still hopeful I can get more on this and a couple of other targets nearby before they're gone for the season. I'm hanging fire on removing the G4 camera from the refractor for this reason but it will need to go on the ODK12 soon.

ChrisH

[Tom OD]

That's a great set of images. I m not normally a NB fan but the first heart looks pleasing to my eye. I also like the 30min Ha subs. Hard to beat a good accurate mount.