NGC 1333 (The Balrog Nebula): LRGB

[Rodd]

Well, I think it looks like a Balrog anyway (JRR Tolkien's Demon Spirit from the ancient world). 

Televue np101is at F4.3 (.8x reducer), SBIG STT 8300 with Astrodon Series IIE LRGB Filters: 15 hours, 20 min exposure time

Lum:    36 X 5 min & 18 X 10 min (1x1)

Red:    21 X 10 min (1x1)

Green:  19 X 10 min (1x1)

Blue:     16 X 10 min (1x1)

[wimvb]

Great image, with lots of colour variation in the bright nebula. Well done!

[Rodd]

I think this one might be better.  I swore off tinkering and tweaking, but I just can't help myself.  A bit darker background.  Yes--perhaps a tad oversaturated--but I did not really up the saturation much--just 1 small curves adjustment.

[wimvb]

I have to reread Tolkien.

It's a great image, but personally I like the softer one better. The bright nebula (Balrog) has some beautiful colours, and is probably worth a close up.

Thanks for sharing

[Rodd]

15 minutes ago, wimvb said:

I have to reread Tolkien.

It's a great image, but personally I like the softer one better. The bright nebula (Balrog) has some beautiful colours, and is probably worth a close up.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks Wim--Maybe I'll hit it with the C11 Edge for a close in.  Framing could be tricky.

[strutsinaction]

Superb! I prefer the first rendition. Balrog is very apt (or demented teddy bear).

Regards

John

[wimvb]

4 minutes ago, Rodd said:

Thanks Wim--Maybe I'll hit it with the C11 Edge for a close in.  Framing could be tricky.

Imaging as well, I can imagine. That's an f/10 scope, isn't it? That would be quite a difference from the setup you used for this image.

[Rodd]

22 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Imaging as well, I can imagine. That's an f/10 scope, isn't it? That would be quite a difference from the setup you used for this image.

I have the .7x reducer--quite nice.

[wimvb]

That would speed it up a bit. But still quite slower than the f/4.3 you have with the TeleVue + reducer. Seems a nice challenge. Good luck with it.

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, strutsinaction said:

Superb! I prefer the first rendition. Balrog is very apt (or demented teddy bear).

Regards

John

Thanks John

[Rodd]

56 minutes ago, wimvb said:

That would speed it up a bit. But still quite slower than the f/4.3 you have with the TeleVue + reducer. Seems a nice challenge. Good luck with it.

I am not convinced I should try it--this is a pretty dim target--dimmer than the Iris I think.  I shot Pacman with the C11Edge to amazing effect (at least in Ha).  But that is much brighter.   The problem is there is only so much imaging time so I really need to carefully pick my targets to try and maximize success.  OU4 is a good example.  I spent far too many days on that target for I got out of it.

[Maximidius]

That's an amazing rendition of an area of sky that I think is new for me. So much going on, must be a "demon"  to process. +1 from me for a C11 version  

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I think you've finally settled the 'wings' controversy.

[ollypenrice]

Really exceptional. This is such a hard target but the colour contrast between dust clousds and background sky is fantastic. This is a great result and shows what can be done if - and only if - you have enough data.

I might slightly warm up the tones a tad but that's purely subjective.

Olly

[johnrt]

Very nice Rodd, what staggers me the most is the amount of clear skies you get, I had a little trip back though your images and you have posted over 120 hours of data in the last 2 months, us poor mortals struggle to achieve that in a year (or 2!!)!

 

[toxic]

blooming great image Rodd 

[carastro]

Well I don't know what a Balrog is, but I have just started to image this nebula (a more close up view of it), and have been calling it the Pine Cone Nebula, because I thought it looked like a pine cone, but then I didn't have all the surrounding nebulosity only the bit that looked like a pine cone.

Fabulous image Rodd, gives me something to aim for.

Carole 

 

 

[PatrickGilliland]

Hi Rodd

Excellent work and lots of data there.  I won't be your with backing off a bot  but as olly said warming tones will add to the image which can be achieved with less luminosity as well (is there a theme here  ).

That said the structures are excellent and i like - just feel its loosing some detail in the colour side.

Paddy

[ollypenrice]

As for Tolkein, put me down as Bored of the Rings...

lly

[Rodd]

13 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Really exceptional. This is such a hard target but the colour contrast between dust clousds and background sky is fantastic. This is a great result and shows what can be done if - and only if - you have enough data.

I might slightly warm up the tones a tad but that's purely subjective.

Olly

Thanks Olly--I assume there is a difference between warming up the tones and increasing saturation?  Or do you use these terms interchangeably?  I am ever fearful of over doing it on saturation (like I usually do with sharpening and stretching) 

[Rodd]

8 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Hi Rodd

Excellent work and lots of data there.  I won't be your with backing off a bot  but as olly said warming tones will add to the image which can be achieved with less luminosity as well (is there a theme here  ).

That said the structures are excellent and i like - just feel its loosing some detail in the colour side.

Paddy

Thanks Paddy--is it possible to warm up teh tomes without increasing saturation?

[Rodd]

12 hours ago, carastro said:

Well I don't know what a Balrog is, but I have just started to image this nebula (a more close up view of it), and have been calling it the Pine Cone Nebula, because I thought it looked like a pine cone, but then I didn't have all the surrounding nebulosity only the bit that looked like a pine cone.

Fabulous image Rodd, gives me something to aim for.

Carole 

 

 

Thanks Carol--its amazing what you can see in nebula--animals, faces, whole landscapes--change teh focal length and you have a knew world!  Your pine come image soun ds intriguing

[Rodd]

13 hours ago, johnrt said:

Very nice Rodd, what staggers me the most is the amount of clear skies you get, I had a little trip back though your images and you have posted over 120 hours of data in the last 2 months, us poor mortals struggle to achieve that in a year (or 2!!)!

 

Lately it has been good--though I am pretty fanatical about not missing clear sky.  Its never enough, of course!

[Rodd]

14 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Really exceptional. This is such a hard target but the colour contrast between dust clousds and background sky is fantastic. This is a great result and shows what can be done if - and only if - you have enough data.

I might slightly warm up the tones a tad but that's purely subjective.

Olly

 

9 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Hi Rodd

Excellent work and lots of data there.  I won't be your with backing off a bot  but as olly said warming tones will add to the image which can be achieved with less luminosity as well (is there a theme here  ).

That said the structures are excellent and i like - just feel its loosing some detail in the colour side.

Paddy

So-here is a but of a warmth boost--no increase in saturation though.  I cheated actually, I have a Windows based image viewer on my computer that has a slider for tint, temperature and saturation.  I upped the warmth as suggested. Not sure this counts as it is only a modification to the JPEG and not the official image (the viewer can't open FITs files).  I guess I need to figure out how to do this in my "real" processing platform. 

[ollypenrice]

By warmer I just meant easing the red-blue balance towards red. I'd probably do that by lowering the gamma point in blue and raising it in red very slightly (done in Levels). I think the version above has been overdone because it's taken you into colour noise but the direction was the right one (meaning no more than it was to my taste.)

Olly