Melotte 15 the Heart of the Heart

[Laurin Dave]

Melotte 15 the Heart of the Heart. Captured over 4 nights 18, 21, 26 and 30 Nov whilst dodging the clouds and rain.  Esprit 150ED on AZEQ-6, ASI1600mm, Astrodon 5nm Ha, Oiii and Sii and ZWO RGB filters.  28x600s Ha, 20x600s Sii, 10x600s Oiii and 10x120s each RGB. Processed in Pixinsight and finished in Photoshop with a little help from Noel's Actions.  Red is 50% Sii 50%Ha, Green 20%Ha 80%Oiii and Blue 100%Oiii combined using Pixelmath.  I choose this combination as it mitigated the magenta halos I was getting with SHO combination.  RGB stars added together with a few diffraction spikes..  Could do with more data especially Oiii which it will get when the clouds clear.

Thanks for looking

Dave

 

[Adreneline]

Excellent image Dave - really like the colour combination.

Adrian

[fireballxl5]

Nice image and colours.

Not sure who gave this tip, but it works a treat.

Invert the image and apply SCNR (green) to remove magenta halos around stars in PI.

HTH, Andy

 

[Allinthehead]

Very nice Dave the stars and detail are great. I wonder could you bring in the black point a touch?

[Maxrayne]

Oh wow....just....wow<3 

[carastro]

Excellent image. 

Quote

I wonder could you bring in the black point a touch?

Yes, I agree, looks brilliant then, I tried it.

Carole 

[PhotoGav]

That’s beautiful. The clarity of the nebulosity is stunning. It looks as though you haven’t processed the image at all, which is a very hard thing to achieve! Well done!

[wimvb]

Escellent image. But I agree with Richard and Carole: bringing in the blackpoint and a lighthanded play with curves would strengthen this image a lot, imo.

[Laurin Dave]

Thanks everyone for your comments and tips...   some clear nights forecast so if they materialise I'll add some more data and see what effect that has, hopefully it'll reduce the noise in the dark bits..  

Dave

[alan4908]

Very good. I do like the star colours and the 3D effect of gas and dust.

On the black point - if you are concerned about loosing some of the faint dust you might want to try this (Adam Block) technique if you process in PS. Copy the image three times so you have a top layer, a middle layer and a bottom layer. Apply Equalize to the bottom layer (Image->Adjustments->Equalise), set the second layer blend mode to multiply. Adjust the top layer opacity slider to taste. This allows you to move in the black point without impacting the visibility of faint dust. 

Alan  

[john2y]

Those are really nice data and those details are amazing but if I'm to be honest the image looks washed out, I would definitely pulled more on the curves as it would reveal more details hidden in the dust, the added noise shouldn't be a concern as the data looks buttery smooth. 

[MartinB]

Beautiful detail and great colour.  Fabulous image Dave.  The black point is down to taste I guess, I've often been guilty of thinking everything is ok so long as I don't clip the black but I now prefer more of a cushion, this image has quite a big fluffy cushion which does lend it some airy atmosphere.

[Firas]

Great image! I do like it light and airy!