California under moon light

[Allinthehead]

The California Nebula or ngc 1499 is an emission nebula spanning 100 light years. It lies within the Orion arm of the Milky way at a distance of about 1500 light years from us. 

This is my effort from last night under big bright moon. 

Captured using a Zwo asi1600 mono cooled camera. Through a skywatcher 80ed with a reducer giving 510mm at f/6.3.

120*2 minute subs unguided at gain 300 and offset 15 using Sgpro.

Master dark, bias, and flats.

C & C very welcome. Thanks for looking.

Richard.

 

[MattJenko]

Lovely, billowy detail in that. Looks like a very nice combination of optics and sensor you have going on there.

[laudropb]

Very nice image.

[Stephen Green]

Nice image

[Allinthehead]

14 hours ago, MattJenko said:

 

Lovely, billowy detail in that. Looks like a very nice combination of optics and sensor you have going on there.

 

Thanks Matt. It surprised me how big and bright this target is.

 

10 hours ago, laudropb said:

 

Very nice image.

 

Thanks laudropb.

 

1 hour ago, Stephen Green said:

 

Nice image

 

Thanks Stephen.

[simmo39]

V nice.

[Stu]

Lovely image! Amazing what can be achieved under moonlight with narrowband filters, plus a lot of skill of course!

[Allinthehead]

I thought this could go one more curves adjustment?

 

[Allinthehead]

5 minutes ago, simmo39 said:

 

V nice.

 

Thanks Simmo.

 

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

Lovely image! Amazing what can be achieved under moonlight with narrowband filters, plus a lot of skill of course!

Thanks Stu. Ya it's great to be able to image in those conditions. I'm not sure about the skill part tho. Don't zoom in.

[Barry-Wilson]

Well done Richard, a terrific Ha mono.

You may even be able to get a further small contrast curve adjustment . . . ?

[Allinthehead]

2 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

Well done Richard, a terrific Ha mono.

You may even be able to get a further small contrast curve adjustment . . . ?

Hi Barry thanks. Are you talking about using anchor points at the black point of the curve?

[Barry-Wilson]

Yes, here's a quick screenshot of a contrast curve transformation in PI (not sure which processing s/ware you use) the idea to bring a little more contrast across the whole frame to aid in the impact of the dynamic range (using a two-panel mosaic of a Ha data set of mine, hope you don't mind just to illustrate).

It is all personal taste of course and one of the techniques to master is knowing when to stop processing . . .

[Allinthehead]

Thanks Barry. I'm a photoshop man but i think i get it.

1 hour ago, Barry-Wilson said:

It is all personal taste of course and one of the techniques to master is knowing when to stop processing . . .

I hear ya.

 

 

 

[Barry-Wilson]

I really like the latest iteration - just a tad more drama introduced into the composition with that last curve adjustment.  Very good work Richard.

[Allinthehead]

26 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

I really like the latest iteration - just a tad more drama introduced into the composition with that last curve adjustment.  Very good work Richard.

Thanks Barry. I appreciate the feedback. I just need to sort out the stars now. I'm not sure if it's the seeing, tracking, or the spacing.

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice work Richard - has good detail yet soft and wispy I like this rendition.

Paddy

[xanthic]

That's really nice. These ZWO cameras really seem to be a game changer.

[Adam J]

12 hours ago, xanthic said:

That's really nice. These ZWO cameras really seem to be a game changer.

They are and they aren't as people who have cooled DSLR's know there are a tone of DSLR CMOS sensors on the market that are technically capable of this kind of performance or much much better. However the problem is that no one is producing those sensors in mono. This is not the best sensor in the world, its just the first time someone made a mono version of a half decent CMOS. So while they are a game changer for being mono, they are nothing special in terms of the underlying technology if that makes sense, lets face it, it has a amp glow issue.... Much better things to come from mono CMOS....if manufacturers would only stop putting micro filters on the dam things.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Adam J

[souls33k3r]

Awesome image mate. What filter (size and make) did you use with your ASI1600?

[Allinthehead]

On 12/19/2016 at 10:03, PatrickGilliland said:

 

Nice work Richard - has good detail yet soft and wispy I like this rendition.

Paddy

 

Thanks Paddy

 

On 12/19/2016 at 12:51, xanthic said:

That's really nice. These ZWO cameras really seem to be a game changer.

Thanks Leigh. Certainly a step up from my 600d and at the price looks hard to beat. 

 

18 hours ago, Adam J said:

lets face it, it has a amp glow issue....

Mine has awful amp glow, seems to calibrate out well with darks

 

 

[Allinthehead]

2 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

 

Awesome image mate. What filter (size and make) did you use with your ASI1600?

 

Thanks souls. I'm using an astrodon 5 nm 1.25"

[Allinthehead]

Added 4 hrs to this last night

 

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by Allinthehead
Slight adjustment

[souls33k3r]

Flip me sideways!!! That nebulosity is a killer ... Good job matey