NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula

[PhotoGav]

I'm on a bit of a processing roll, catching up with several image data sets captured over the last few months. Here is my rendition of NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula. The data was captured in November and December last year and constitutes the first light image for my new Altair Wave Series 102 ED (with 0.8x PlanoStar reducer / flattener) that I purchased at the UK Astro Show back in October last year (with Barry-Wilson's help in selecting how to spend my dosh - thank you Barry, I'm a very happy astro-imager!).

Capture details are:

Altair Wave 102 ED with 0.8x reducer, QSI 683-WSG8, Baader filters, HEQ5 Pro.

Ha: 15 x 1800s

OIII: 17 x 1800s

Total Integration Time: 16 hours

I'm happy with the way this one has come out. It must be a very star dense patch of sky as I had to weald a pretty heavy hand to make the nebula visible and it still seems to be dominated by stars! Thankfully the stars have some good colour to them, which makes me think that my RGB attempts are simply too weedy at only 300s. I am doing my current RGB project with 600s subs, so it will be interesting to see how that affects star colour. Anway, overall, I am very happy with the performance of the new scope and am really enjoying using it.

As ever, I await your c&c's please!

Clear skies to all - once this snow has moved on...

[Davey-T]

Nice sympathetically processed Pacman Gav, i've never done one of it that turned out well, all those tiny stars end up looking like measles, it's tempting to remove them altogether 

Dave

[gnomus]

Nice one Mr Gav.  I am never sure how aggressive I should be with stars.  Some like 'em super-small, others argue that you can over-suppress and a bit of blow out is more natural.  I will be going back and forth over that one during the course of the year, no doubt....  The images with stars completely removed freak me out a tad....

[Paul73]

Lovely image Gavin.

The nebula looks fantastic. It is in a bright star field. The central star in particular, is part and parcel of the image. That could be a touch brighter in my book.

Definitaly one for your next exhibition.

Paul

[PhotoGav]

Thank you for your comments Dave, Steve & Paul. Yes, star reduction is a tricky one. My aim is to make the main object the subject so certainly don't want the stars to overpower the image. However, the stars are there and are pretty intense. My other aim is to try and be faithful to reality, so the stars have to play their part. Paul, your comment about the central star(s) is very interesting and pertinent - I particularly like the fact that 'a visual' is helping 'an imager' get it right! Thank you.

[Paul73]

The nice thing about a finished image, is that there is no "right" or "wrong"!

Looking forward to more images.

Paul

[laudropb]

Very nice image and I prefer the stars in.

[cfpendock]

Nice image, Gav.  I like the colour of the nebula - not seen it in Ha and OIII before - the oxygen certainly helps.  I also like the colour of the bigger stars.  But I'm not so keen on the "measly" (to use Davey-T's word) look of the smaller stars.  I know there are a lot of them, but I think they would look better slightly less reduced.  I have seen this effect when I have over-used the star reduction in Noels Actions - I sometimes find it difficult to decide where to stop, especially when there are lots of stars which otherwise threaten to overwhelm what I am actually trying to show.  But possibly this the effect of using Ha and OIII rather than RGB.   Just my impression......

Actually I think this is a fine image.

Chris

[PhotoGav]

15 hours ago, Paul73 said:

The nice thing about a finished image, is that there is no "right" or "wrong"!

Paul, is there ever a 'finished' image???!!

Thank you @laudropb and Chris. You made me chuckle Chris, that is pretty much the thought process I am constantly going through when processing an image: I like it, I don't like it, I'll change that, no I won't, I like it - and repeat!

 

[Tom OD]

great work. I like the natural look of the HaO3 mix, that makes it look like an LRGB image. You re almost in the centre of the Milky Way there, so bazillions of stars to deal with, and I think you ve done that well.

Tom

[PhotoGav]

Thank you Tom. Yes, you are absolutely right, I'd not really put two and two together - this is in Cassiopeia, Milky Way star density overload territory! 

[Davey-T]

Apologies Gav, I didn't mean your stars looked like measles, it's my attempts at star reduction on targets in the MW that always end up looking spotty 

Dave

[PhotoGav]

Dave, no need to apologise. I read your original comment to mean that you were talking about your stars and I have not taken any offence with subsequent measle references anyway. It's quite a good description of them!

[PatrickGilliland]

Nice work Gav, 281 is very nice and the stars are processed consistently and well.  

Paddy

[PhotoGav]

Thank you Paddy.

[ollypenrice]

Yup, it's good for me too and you've gone deep enough to avoid that 'Popping out of nowhere' look the Pacman sometimes has.

Olly

[Barry-Wilson]

Well done Gav on a cracking Pacman.

You must be very pleased with its performance and the reducer too .

[PhotoGav]

Thank you Olly and Barry. Yes, very pleased with the new scope. Though, I have started to process my Horsehead & Flame data and I have noticed some pretty horrendous lens flare from Alnitak, especially in the blue channel. Could be a processing nightmare...