In the Loop - Barnard's Winter Treasure Trove

[PatrickGilliland]

Evening all - decided to finally publish this been returning to on and off for a while and decided not much more i can do with it.  Widefield RGB stars are a struggle still for me, wont be getting any HA for a while which i could have used to better control so decided it's time to jump in as is!

It comprises of some relatively short LRGB taken on a wide-field Rokinon 135 - I then created a composite luminance layer from scratch featuring the Rokinon and FSQ data for each object. Totalling about 34 hours of exposure.  I blended the composite lum with the Rokinon RGB and then reinforced this further with some colour from the original stand-alone images.  Hope you enjoy.  

Paddy

 

[gnomus]

Ee bah gum - cracking.

[Tzitzis]

Stunning image! Worth the time! Great job, keep it up!

[wimvb]

Great image, the full size version is stunning.

[Maximidius]

That's beautiful, and so clean too the full size image is amazing. Well worth the time for sure and a great job on the processing. 35hrs sure is a lot of TOT, do you have an observatory or permanent setup ? 

[aparker]

Spectacular.  Such an interesting area of the sky.  You have achieved rich color without it looking fake or contrived.  Quite an accomplishment.

[ChrisLX200]

Loads of faint background nebulosity in that image, I didn't know that was even there   Colours excellent too!

ChrisH

[jetstream]

There is so much in this image it is mind boggling- and stunning, the full size version is superb!

[PatrickGilliland]

Thanks for the positive feedback (Gnomus, Tzitzis, Wim, Maximidius, Aparker, Chris, Jeststream)  - always nice to wake up too  

Answering a few points and questions - Data is from a remote Obsy (DSW) in New Mexico, though unlike many some of the gear out there is actually mine - i have a UK set up OS RH 200 and PL16803 which i am desperately trying to get operational but only 5 minutes of clear skies in last 3 weeks sums that up!  Ultimately i will be moving all of my gear to Spain in Nov - it makes little sense to spend a small fortune on equipment that i can't use so having to look farther afield to see some return on the investments i have made.

On not looking contrived and background nebulosity etc - this was the biggest challenge of the image i think.  With three distinct objects i had to adjust colours a little so that they 'fitted' better - the variance in their standalone state did look like 3 images had just be knitted together without much thought.  There is also a lot more nebulosity that i could have worked out from the image but i felt this level worked.  Pushing any harder would have degraded the overall image. 

And of course unlike lots of my earlier images having the full size version look as good as the thumbnail was the real achievement.  Overall very pleased and appreciative of the feedback.

Thanks All,

 

Paddy

[laudropb]

Very nice image. Well worth your time and effort.

[PatrickGilliland]

Thanks laudrobb, appreciate feedback - not sure the other half agrees on the time issue though 

Paddy

[StargeezerTim]

That is something special!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive known Orion for about 35yrs now and that is one image of him that i have never seen the likes of before. The HH really draws your eyes into the image.

Utterly stunning.

Would you mind if i used your image as my wallpaper?.

[aparker]

16 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Data is from a remote Obsy (DSW) in New Mexico,

I grew up there and am dreaming of the day I can retire and move back.  The weather here in New England might not be *quite* as astro-unfriendly as there in Merry Old, but it comes close...

[swag72]

A great looking image Paddy

 

[Gina]

Brilliant and beautiful   I have some widefield imaging in mind - if the clouds ever go away!!!

[PatrickGilliland]

Thanks Sara

Thanks Gina - know that feeling arrived at obsy last night to do some testing and before i opened roof cloud rolled in - spent half hour talking to a horse in a field whilst drinking my tea and decided i looked barmy and headed back home!

Paddy

[newbie alert]

Great image Paddy...my favourite area of the sky..

[Filroden]

I don't know what to say...it's breathtaking. Though I'd probably rotate it 90 degrees as I think I prefer it in portrait (M42 feels like a heavier object in the image and it feels more natural for the eye to be drawn down than to the right).

[simmo39]

EPIC! so good that EPIC is in caps!

[PatrickGilliland]

1 hour ago, Filroden said:

I don't know what to say...it's breathtaking. Though I'd probably rotate it 90 degrees as I think I prefer it in portrait (M42 feels like a heavier object in the image and it feels more natural for the eye to be drawn down than to the right).

I thought about it but with B33 taking centre stage felt that i would orientate to that.  Have you tried to lay down and look at looks fine then  .

Appreciate comments.

2 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Great image Paddy...my favourite area of the sky..

Thanks was surprised to see this old post resurrected Glad you liked certainly a lot going on in this area and great for imaging.  Appreciate feedback.

Paddy

9 minutes ago, simmo39 said:

EPIC! so good that EPIC is in caps!

In that case THANKS  - appreciate the feedback.  Paddy

[toxic]

1 word - Awesome 

[PatrickGilliland]

3 hours ago, toxic said:

1 word - Awesome 

Thanks

[MikeODay]

Truly magnificent Paddy.  Wonderful colours and great detail and depth in the dust.  Well done.

 

[RSM]

Love it, such a wonderful part of the night sky and expertly captured.