Taking a break from writing - NGC 7000

[steppenwolf]

I've spent the day at the keyboard documenting some image processing techniques and as the skies have been so poor, I've had to use some old data for the screen shots but this one worked out OK with the new work-flow.

A Wall of Ionization

NGC 7000, the North America Nebula, is a very popular deep sky imaging object and its rich Ha emission content makes it particularly appealing for RGB imaging. However, I like to capture this region of the Milky Way in Cygnus using narrowband filters to really bring out the detail in ‘The Wall’.

As well as the predominant Hydrogen Alpha (Ha), this object is also quite rich in doubly ionised Oxygen (OIII) emissions. The position of OIII emissions in the light spectrum, right on the cusp between green and blue, allows a full RGB colour image to be produced from just two sets of filter data by using the OIII data for both the green and blue channels and the Ha data for the red channel.

Image Stats

Mount: Mesu 200
Telescope: William optics FLT98
Reducer: William Optics FR IV
Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8
Filters: Baader 8nm Ha and 8.5mm OIII
Subframes: 19 x 900 sec OIII, 19 x 600 sec Ha
Control: CCD Commander
Capture: MaxIM DL
Post-Processing: MaxIM DL and PS3

[Uranium235]

Youre going to have to spill the beans when I see you in a few weeks Its an interesting bicolour scheme I'd like to check out. Good stuff Steve.

[Atreta]

Stunning image, APOD material. 

[Star101]

Love it. 

Having finally got my ror shed sorted and my mesu 200 mount in place I have come to notice gas clouds and their wonder from my own imaging.

I love to see others imaging areas of sky and showing me the possibilities ahead..

This image looks fantastic. I love the field glow and dark dusty lanes.. 

Thanks for sharing.

 

[swag72]

A colour scheme slightly away from the norm that suits this target well..... very nice ??

[steppenwolf]

18 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Youre going to have to spill the beans when I see you in a few weeks Its an interesting bicolour scheme I'd like to check out. Good stuff Steve.

Thanks Rob, always happy to divulge -  we'll catch up at the SP.

17 hours ago, Atreta said:

Stunning image, APOD material. 

Thank you Frank, pleased you like it.

17 hours ago, Star101 said:

This image looks fantastic. I love the field glow and dark dusty lanes.. 

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you and enjoy your Mesu!

11 hours ago, swag72 said:

A colour scheme slightly away from the norm that suits this target well..... very nice ??

Thanks, Sara, it's great fun re-visiting old data with new ideas although some nice skies for new data would be cool!

[toxic]

wow look at all that dust and really nice color Steve

[tomato]

Wonderful image, I love the contrast between the inky dust and the region of 'clearer' sky in the bottom left.

Steve

[steppenwolf]

On 9/24/2017 at 00:01, toxic said:

wow look at all that dust and really nice color Steve

Thanks Chris, the dusty bits always add to nebulae images to give some contrast - who'd have thought that dust could be beautiful eh?

On 9/24/2017 at 07:44, tomato said:

Wonderful image, I love the contrast between the inky dust and the region of 'clearer' sky in the bottom left.

Steve,  you've noticed the bit I have been specifically working on!

Every year I return to this object and each time I learn a little more.

[kirkster501]

Wow Steve, that is superb with incredible detail.

[ollypenrice]

Deliciously delicate with the palette in harmony with the resolved details, further enhancing them.

Olly

[johnrt]

Splendid choice of colours Steve

 

[gorann]

Great! The wall in a way I never seen before. Unreal (in a positive way)

[steppenwolf]

14 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Wow Steve, that is superb with incredible detail.

Thank you, Steve!

14 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Deliciously delicate with the palette in harmony with the resolved details, further enhancing them.

Thanks, Olly, one of the great joys of narrowband imaging - choose your own palette!

12 hours ago, johnrt said:

Splendid choice of colours Steve

Thanks, John

11 hours ago, gorann said:

Great! The wall in a way I never seen before. Unreal (in a positive way)

Cheers, Göran, pleased you like the different presentation.

[laser_jock99]

Cracking shot & processing.

[steppenwolf]

On 9/26/2017 at 22:59, laser_jock99 said:

Cracking shot & processing.

Thank you for your comment

[RayD]

In a very kind way it's annoying that you write well about something you are actually very good at 

Great image Steve. Really pleasant to look at this in a very different light (no pun intended).

[Shibby]

That's sharper than a sushi knife. I don't know how you've done it exactly, but it looks like a full narrow-band image.

[steppenwolf]

11 hours ago, RayD said:

In a very kind way it's annoying that you write well about something you are actually very good at 

11 hours ago, Shibby said:

That's sharper than a sushi knife. I don't know how you've done it exactly, but it looks like a full narrow-band image.

The key to this image is the use of a 'synthetic' green channel followed by the Hue/Saturation tool in PS3. I then adjusted 'Gamma' to brighten the image and increase contrast followed by the usual 'Curves' stretching. I did start off with a very nice, sharp Ha channel in particular.