NGC2264 Cone nebula LRGBHa(7nm) + Ha(7nm)

[bdlbug]

All,

like many posts last weekend was first imaging opportunity since beginning of December. Given the poor and very damp weather I brought everything in from the observatory in December, so last Friday, with prospect of a decent few days of clear sky I set it all back up again. Like a lot of things in this hobby, it didn't quite go to plan -but I did get polar aligned and a few test images on Friday night before cloud rolled in. Saturday was an evening of frustration as my mount was not behaving, grabbed two subs on he cone and then clouds. We didn't do as well for clear skies as I had hoped for in Northants over the weekend as the cloud just seemed to arrive mid evening. Anyway Monday was the night......Started early got set up and started imaging about 6:30pm, took dogs out for their walk, came back into the obsy about an hour later only to find everything dead - muppet here had forgotten to plug laptop into power socket, so everything had crashed and APT lost all its settings, hopefully no-one overheard my choice words - so complete reset of APT settings ( I've now saved a backup..) and got back imaging about 8:30pm through to nearly 3am.

Details
66 subs Ha(7nm) 120s  : 2.2hrs
30 subs each LRGB 120s : 4hrs

ASI1600MM (-20degC)
AT106EDT + Riccardi 0.75x FF/R

Processed APP, PS

I'm posting the Ha(7nm) Baader as well as the combined LRGBHa - I think they both give a different perspective of this region of the sky.
6hrs on this is target is not really enough, so my processing has pushed things and so noise as usual is the enemy, so a bit of NR applied via masks etc..

Thanks for looking
Bryan

[tooth_dr]

Fantastic. Really nice to look at zoomed in. 

[astro mick]

When I first looked at this I thought Oops,then I studied it further and then thought  Wow.

Exerllent job.

Mick.

Edited January 23, 2020 by astro mick

[bdlbug]

@astro mick I’m intrigued why you initially thought ..Oops

Bryan  

[Adreneline]

On 22/01/2020 at 23:25, bdlbug said:

I'm posting the Ha(7nm) Baader as well as the combined LRGBHa - I think they both give a different perspective of this region of the sky.

I agree, in fact I often feel the Ha alone reveals far more structure and depth for many of these nebula regions. Compared with the LRGBha your Ha is almost 3D! I think it is really stunning!

This is probably heresey but I have found that Lum rarely adds anything to a nebula image. Duck! Back below the parapet I go!

Thanks for sharing.

Adrian

[bdlbug]

Thank Adrian, yes definitely imaging in Ha delivers depth that’s not apparent in RGB which does support the discussion I had with Ian King at IAS in that LRGB images in light polluted skies is difficult to achieve consistent and quality results but going narrowband opens up a whole new universe 🙄 however I prefer broadband images and I’m yet to embrace narrowband ‘style’ or invest in the additional two filters.....

Bryan

 

[astro mick]

5 hours ago, bdlbug said:

@astro mick I’m intrigued why you initially thought ..Oops

Bryan  

Hi Bryan.

When I first saw the colour image,i thought and to a point still think the Red is over saturated,and did,nt sit quite right with me.

But as I scrolled next to the image showing the Ha data on its own,i was really impressed,the subtle detail and depth is quite remarkable.

To me this is this is the outstanding image.

But I realise colour is subjective,and is an individual preference.So please dont take any offense from my casual remark.

Mick.

[bdlbug]

Mick, appreciate the feedback, I also thought that the red was intense, but my daughter thought it looked impactful - it's probably the result of me being a bit heavy handed in blending Ha with Lum to highlight the Ha detail (I think I read should be <15%, I may have doubled that !) - I know how would anyone think do do such a thing however I used blend mode lighten for main overlay of Ha into the LRGB.

@carastro has a cone image posted up as well and also had a couple of variations on how to balance the saturation of red. I actually prefer Carole's framing as her image has captured more of the dark molecular cloud below the cone, in her image, I managed to miss most of that above the cone in my framing.

I 'll perhaps have another processing session later this evening and see what's possible..

Bryan

[MartinB]

I agree with Mick re the mono having real depth to it.  The colour image doesn't look quite right to my eyes but it is always tricky deciding how to manage the Ha in an HaRGB image