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Messier 78 - a dusty favourite

Barry-Wilson

By Barry-Wilson
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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Imaged over several weeks on our shared rig at e-Eye, Spain, this target holds a fascination for me and it is a splendid mixture of astrophysical delights!  We found early in the project that the subs had stellar artefacts, probably from nearby Alnitak, streaks of starlight and rays on about a third of the frame originating from the upper right.  Real world effects most likely caused by reflections off the Flip-Flat, possibly adding character to the image, but mostly distracting from the subject.  We therefore imaged an overlapping panel for the same overall integration, effectively doubling the total image time to 45 hours.

Details:

  • Takahashi FSQ106 at F5
  • 10 Micron GM1000HPS
  • QSI68wsg-8 with Astrodon filters
  • Lum 96 x 600s; R, G & B 48 x 600s each; Ha 30 x 600s. Total integration 45 hours.
  • SGP for capture; PI for processing
  • Data acquisition: Steve Milne & Barry Wilson. Processing: Barry Wilson

M78_LHaRGB_web.thumb.jpg.c4959e245b138ac05a05b41b39497a67.jpg

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Truly a fine image. It's not exactly the same as Steve's but it's one of those situations in which you say to yourself, 'I don't have to choose; I can enjoy both.'

The framing, by the way, is inspired. You've caught all that matters in the dust lanes yet found enough of the loop to stop it looking like a gradient in one corner!

Chapeau, gentlemen.

Olly

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

Truly a fine image. It's not exactly the same as Steve's but it's one of those situations in which you say to yourself, 'I don't have to choose; I can enjoy both.'

The framing, by the way, is inspired. You've caught all that matters in the dust lanes yet found enough of the loop to stop it looking like a gradient in one corner!

Chapeau, gentlemen.

Olly

Agreed Olly - the variety and individual interpretations make this hobby such a joy.

@Mick J, @LightBucket, @swag72, @alan4908, @gonzostar, @Doc, @Mr niall, @PhotoGav and @toxic - thank you all for the kind words.

I was aiming to try and show a smooth transition from the glowing Ha regions to the browny molecular dust that bathes the whole of the area - hopefully achieved a sense of that.

2 hours ago, swag72 said:

Nice all round...... the dust looks good and the star colours really add to the all round appeal of this beauty ????

I was quite worried about the over abundance of smaller stars detracting from the main subject . . . almost found myself wishing for some PS layer thingies and magic erasors and brushes and wotnots :happy10: . . . stands back and waits for the onslaught :iamwithstupid:

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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Thanks Mike, MayGrey3833 and Martin.

Like other dusty objects that also have bright and significant regions with HDR, eg NGC1333 or the Iris or M42, they are firndishly difficult to capture and then process with a semblance of balance bewteen the main elements across the frame.

The abundant data really helped as well as much experimentation to obtain the optimum colour calibration: this was key to the majority of the non linear processing.

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