Soul nebula's "head" quick 2 night capture.

[assouptro]

HI you guys!

So I was treated to a rare couple of nights without clouds! Well to be honest it was a night where the clouds cleared quite late after a full day of drizzle and rain followed by a clear night that started to cloud up around midnight.

Beggars can't be choosers! 

I wasn't sure what I was going to shoot, it was too early for all the goodies around Orion but too late to enjoy the bounties of the Cygnus region and with my current setup (atik 460 on an f6 100mm Apo)  I was limited to close ups. Also there was the moon so NB was the secure option. 

The Heart Nebula, one of my favorite DSO's  was going to be too large so I considered it's 'neighbour' The Soul Nebula IC1848

 

I Imaged the Soul nebula many years ago with a canon 460 dslr and I was fascinated by the likeness to a fetus and it's proximity (from our perspective) to the Heart Nebula (another day/night)

This is the image I captured years ago. I couldn't tell you how many hours are involved but I'm pretty sure it'll be a one night stack of 8 min subs?

 

 

I could probably reprocess the data better these days, and if I find the time, hard drive and impetus, I may have a go, but in the meantime I was never going to get the whole thing in my limited FOV so I decided to take a 'portrait'!...

Here is the 'portrait' of the Soul Nebula, up close and personal!

It's only 2hrs40min Ha, 2hrs30 Sii and 2hrs30 Oiii  a very quick and dirty process, aligned and integrated in APP saved as a tiff 32bits float adobe 1998 rgb image (I think thats right) then  opened in PS6 for selective colour and a bit of levels/curves etc..

If the skies allow, I think I'll continue with this image, there are some fascinating features in the 'face and neck' that I'd love to enhance, and it's a lovely hso region!

Thanks for looking 

Bryan

[assouptro]

I have just looked at this on my iPhone and it’s obvious to me my laptops screen must need calibration! 
there is way more green on my iPhone than the blue I see on my laptop! 

[assouptro]

A slightly bluer version. 
I need to get some sleep now! 
cheers 

Bryan

[assouptro]

I Tried a different mix... 

This is an SOO with H as Luminance. 

I need more data to smooth it out.

Cheers Bryan