Iris Nebula CCD + DSLR

[tooth_dr]

Apologies that this is out of season.  I had taken some more data back in October, but never got round to processing it.  I added it to data taken the month before.

I ran all the data through APP and PS the past 2 evenings, and have finished up with this.  It has come out a bit more contrasty that I would have liked,

LUMINANCE - 385 minutes with Atik 383L+ and QHY9M, 600s + 300s subs (IMAGE 1)

RGB - 270 minutes with Canon 40d, 300s subs ISO 800

LRGB = total integration time 11 hours (IMAGE 2)

 

Thanks

Adam.

 

 

[Craney]

The Iris and the darker cloud appear to be floating above the sea of stars, which is very splendid.

By "contrasty"  do you feel you are missing texture or a "depth" to the peripheral nebulosity  in terms of subtler shades ??   Perhaps.  The image is certainly busy having that many background stars in it.

The stock answer from the illuminati will be.... "more data needed !!!"

Regardless, it is still a  wow!   inducing image.

[Vixen4eva]

Wow......

[tooth_dr]

8 hours ago, Craney said:

The Iris and the darker cloud appear to be floating above the sea of stars, which is very splendid.

By "contrasty"  do you feel you are missing texture or a "depth" to the peripheral nebulosity  in terms of subtler shades ??   Perhaps.  The image is certainly busy having that many background stars in it.

The stock answer from the illuminati will be.... "more data needed !!!"

Regardless, it is still a  wow!   inducing image.

Thanks Sean .  I'm bad at describing things.  I meant maybe I've over done it a little bit?

Edited April 18, 2019 by tooth_dr

[tooth_dr]

Just wanted to add my original posting of this image and the new version.  The new image has more data, although it was aligned at 90 degrees to the original.  Back in October that was the best I could do, looks like I hardly processed it at all ? At least I think I am getting better.

 

 

[Guest]

This is really good - I've never managed to image this object and each time I see an effort as good as this it makes me doubt whether I should ?

Outstanding - especially the blue and depth to the star field.

David

[astro mick]

A lot of detail in this image Adam.

Exerllent job.

Mick.

Edited April 18, 2019 by astro mick

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, David_L said:

This is really good - I've never managed to image this object and each time I see an effort as good as this it makes me doubt whether I should ?

Outstanding - especially the blue and depth to the star field.

David

Thanks David. It was tricky using DSLR colour data, but I liked the addition of the colour so I persevered with it. 

1 minute ago, astro mick said:

A lot of detail in this image Adam.

Exerllent job.

Mick.

Thanks Mick ?

[jjosefsen]

43 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Thanks David. It was tricky using DSLR colour data, but I liked the addition of the colour so I persevered with it. 

Thanks Mick ?

What was tricky about sing the DSLR for color? Noise?

[tooth_dr]

5 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

What was tricky about sing the DSLR for color? Noise?

Banding and noise mostly.  So much red noise I couldn’t work out what was dust and what was just noise. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by tooth_dr

[Xiga]

I think you've done a great job here Adam. The colour looks great to me and has really made the image. It could perhaps do with a smidge more saturation, but just as equally perhaps not! And in any case we're now into personal taste territory anyways. 

If i open the Levels tool in PS, select the White Point marker, and then hold the ALT key while the eyedropper icon is hovered over the image, it shows that very little has been clipped at the top end. This is a great result, and one i aspire to stick to myself as much as possible these days. 

If there's one area i think it could be improved on, slightly, would be just a tad more subtle NR in the areas outside the IRIS nebula itself (mainly the far RHS of the image). 

[tooth_dr]

On 19/04/2019 at 00:35, Xiga said:

I think you've done a great job here Adam. The colour looks great to me and has really made the image. It could perhaps do with a smidge more saturation, but just as equally perhaps not! And in any case we're now into personal taste territory anyways. 

If i open the Levels tool in PS, select the White Point marker, and then hold the ALT key while the eyedropper icon is hovered over the image, it shows that very little has been clipped at the top end. This is a great result, and one i aspire to stick to myself as much as possible these days. 

If there's one area i think it could be improved on, slightly, would be just a tad more subtle NR in the areas outside the IRIS nebula itself (mainly the far RHS of the image). 

Thanks Ciaran for your expert analysis and advice. I think the noise is exacerbated by rotation of camera 90 degrees between nights so the borders esp right side have maybe only 3/4 of the total exposure of the middle bit.  But NR and saturation are areas I want to improve. 

[ollypenrice]

Super.

Personally I'd be looking at a tad more colour saturation and maybe layering the core of the Iris to bring out the dynamic range but the key word remains 'super.'

Olly

[Allinthehead]

Very nice dusty Iris