WIP - 4 panel mosaic Lum IFN view of Mandel Wilson 3 (The Volcano Nebula) and M81 & M82

[Barry-Wilson]

For some fun as my forecast deteriorates, I have processed my 4 panel Luminance mosaic of part of - I think - Mandel Wilson 2, The Angel Nebula, alongside M81 and M82.  Could be MW3, The Volcano Nebula?  Anyone able to elucidate?

I have unashamedly pushed the stretch to highlight the very faint IFN to reveal the structure, especially the bulk of the Mandel Wilson nebula, whichever one it may be .  There are only 12 x 600s Luminance in each panel giving 8 hours total and much more is needed to lower the noise and help elevate the IFN above the background floor.  So don't go pixel peeping and expect a smooth image, LOL!  .

It helps having the fast FSQ106 at F3.6 and I have nursed an hour here, a couple of hours there as the moon has been rising later.  There have been gaps in the high thin cloud and it is great to be imaging regularly even if it is for only an hour or two at a time.  Gradients of course had to be fought and the data bludgeoned a bit to reveal the detail.  I hope to be able to double the Lum time - not sure if I'll be able to add any colour this year.  A lot of 300s will also help the noise and to control stellar artefacts from the long-ish 600s subs, so I may experiment.

There has been a great crop of M81 and M82 images from many in the last few weeks and this mosaic I hope sets the IFN in context with the pair without becoming too cartoon-like and comic .

CS to all.  Barry

 

Edit: after Paddy's helpful link below, the nebula in the IFN is Mandel Wilson 3 The Volcano Nebula.

[Davey-T]

Excellent result Barry, don't recall seeing an image of the Angel Nebula on here before.

Been trying to gather enough data on M81 / M82 to make a decent image for a couple of months now.

Dave

[gnomus]

It's extremely nice, Barry.  However, I am itching to see a bit more above and below!  

[Star101]

I find it a lovely image but now gnomus mentions above and below....I'm more than intrigued about this area of sky  

Thnaks for sharing.

[PatrickGilliland]

Excellent stuff Barry - difficult to get from UK and 4 panes!  Did you move and not tell anyone.

If I have my orientation correct it is MW3 - I think MW2 would be down/south with that orientation.  Useful link here http://www.galaxyimages.com/UNP_IFNebula.html  (http://www.astrobin.com/full/256837/0/ here is Angel Nebula - its a very nice area and has to be included  )

Steve Mandel seems a nice guy and would be keen to see this I dare say - I would ping him a copy when done. (He was very complimentary about my MW2 and even gave me another nice target to go after!) 

Just a few more years and you will have this finished then Barry

 

[Jedi2014]

Hi Barry,

whoohaa... thats excellent. I now put my FSQ85 to f3.8 as well (it was hard to adjust the reducer and the image train because of anoying tilting). But I did not see the IFN in my images, how much I made an effort to. Now with the faster system I should give it a new try.

Jens

[Barry-Wilson]

Thank you all for the comments.

19 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Excellent result Barry, don't recall seeing an image of the Angel Nebula on here before.

Been trying to gather enough data on M81 / M82 to make a decent image for a couple of months now.

Dave

It certainly hasn't been the best winter but Spring is well underway now .

19 hours ago, gnomus said:

It's extremely nice, Barry.  However, I am itching to see a bit more above and below!  

I know . . . it is so tempting, if only I had infinite patience.

18 hours ago, Star101 said:

I find it a lovely image but now gnomus mentions above and below....I'm more than intrigued about this area of sky  

Thnaks for sharing.

Please don't encourage me .

17 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Excellent stuff Barry - difficult to get from UK and 4 panes!  Did you move and not tell anyone.

If I have my orientation correct it is MW3 - I think MW2 would be down/south with that orientation.  Useful link here http://www.galaxyimages.com/UNP_IFNebula.html  (http://www.astrobin.com/full/256837/0/ here is Angel Nebula - its a very nice area and has to be included  )

Steve Mandel seems a nice guy and would be keen to see this I dare say - I would ping him a copy when done. (He was very complimentary about my MW2 and even gave me another nice target to go after!) 

Just a few more years and you will have this finished then Barry

 

That's a very helpful link Paddy, thank you, and confirms it s Mandel Wilson 3 The Volcano Nebula.  I would love the skies to capture double the Lum and then an hour RGB each panel . . . what are the chances?

7 hours ago, Jedi2014 said:

Hi Barry,

whoohaa... thats excellent. I now put my FSQ85 to f3.8 as well (it was hard to adjust the reducer and the image train because of anoying tilting). But I did not see the IFN in my images, how much I made an effort to. Now with the faster system I should give it a new try.

Jens

You will love the FSQ85 at F3.8.  The reducer is a complete pain I know from my own experience on my Baby Q.  I am pleased with the FT focuser though - I've got a feeling you changed to use the FT focuser?

[Jedi2014]

4 hours ago, Barry-Wilson said:

You will love the FSQ85 at F3.8.  The reducer is a complete pain I know from my own experience on my Baby Q.  I am pleased with the FT focuser though - I've got a feeling you changed to use the FT focuser?

 

Yes, pain is a good description. I changed to the FT Focuser several month ago. It was a big advantage, but FT does not solve the reducer problems. Only trial and error during three nights. If the distance to the chip once was correct, still a bad tilt was in the image train. Seberal possibilities to adjust this or that. We are talking about 10th of a milimeter.  Nothing I could reproduce later on. So now it is more or less plain, but if I ever touch it again, it will start right over. Absolutely nothing for mobile use.

[Uranium235]

Great result Barry, but be warned the quest for IFN can get a bit obsessive

There are other IFN targets apart from those around the polar spur, for example - around M13, M31, the leo triplet or markarian chain in Virgo... but those are really hard, would require a much wider FOV and the patience of a saint!   I've got my targets set on at least one other IFN target but time is running out really - it wont be long before we lose astronomical darkness again (boooo!)

[ollypenrice]

It's very, very good, Barry. I always agonize over the processing of IFN data because I'm never too sure how much of it I'm inventing! For what it's worth, the left hand side of your image and mine are in good accord but they are less alike on the right. That's not to say I think I'm right. Far from it. To be honest I don't know how far we can really know. However, your main IFN nebula is far too convincing and coherent to be incorrect.

Great stuff.

Olly

[Barry-Wilson]

4 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Great result Barry, but be warned the quest for IFN can get a bit obsessive

There are other IFN targets apart from those around the polar spur, for example - around M13, M31, the leo triplet or markarian chain in Virgo... but those are really hard, would require a much wider FOV and the patience of a saint!   I've got my targets set on at least one other IFN target but time is running out really - it wont be long before we lose astronomical darkness again (boooo!)

You know how to encourage . . . and tempt . . . thank you Rob .

54 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

It's very, very good, Barry. I always agonize over the processing of IFN data because I'm never too sure how much of it I'm inventing! For what it's worth, the left hand side of your image and mine are in good accord but they are less alike on the right. That's not to say I think I'm right. Far from it. To be honest I don't know how far we can really know. However, your main IFN nebula is far too convincing and coherent to be incorrect.

Great stuff.

Olly

Thank you for the vote of confidence Olly.  It was very hard processing the mosaic thus far, not knowing quite what was background for DBE samples, what is a residual effect from a hard stretch and there aren't very many images to help compare.  The IFN/dust-free areas look a tad artificial to my eyes at the moment although from what I can glean these 'holes' do exist at these locations & perhaps my crop is exaggerating this.  Maybe with more Lum data I can process with a contrast curve to better accentuate the IFN nebula and also better remove background gradient.  I certainly think on the right, maybe upper left too, that I have general LP gradient masquerading as IFN.  Some 300s subs may alse help distinguish between LP and IFN.

I have used this marvellous widefield by Hytham as a reference, http://astrob.in/92588/E/ however, if you'd be willing to share a link to your image (is it on your SmugMug site?) it will help me no end when I come to reprocess as I gather more data.

[ollypenrice]

33 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

You know how to encourage . . . and tempt . . . thank you Rob .

Thank you for the vote of confidence Olly.  It was very hard processing the mosaic thus far, not knowing quite what was background for DBE samples, what is a residual effect from a hard stretch and there aren't very many images to help compare.  The IFN/dust-free areas look a tad artificial to my eyes at the moment although from what I can glean these 'holes' do exist at these locations & perhaps my crop is exaggerating this.  Maybe with more Lum data I can process with a contrast curve to better accentuate the IFN nebula and also better remove background gradient.  I certainly think on the right, maybe upper left too, that I have general LP gradient masquerading as IFN.  Some 300s subs may alse help distinguish between LP and IFN.

I have used this marvellous widefield by Hytham as a reference, http://astrob.in/92588/E/ however, if you'd be willing to share a link to your image (is it on your SmugMug site?) it will help me no end when I come to reprocess as I gather more data.

Very good from Hytham, as usual!

Mine's on my Smugmug page, yes, but I'll send you a JPEG via PM.

Olly