Cygnus, 16 Panels

[don4l]

This has been a long term project for me.  I first had a go in 2008, but failed miserably - on many fronts.  Filters with halos, no platesolving, and total confusion about the effects of imaging the inside of a shpere all proved far too much.

I came back to it in 2018 and gathered some data.  Last year I got a bit more.  This year, things went very smoothly, so I am putting it to bed for the moment.

This is sixteen panels.  Most of them are 45m binned 2x2, but the middle ones are about 70m 1x1.

Stacking and ddp stretching was done in CCDStack.  All other processing was done in Affinity, and a very small amount of star reduction in Gimp.

Telescope FSQ105 at F3,6.  Camera G3 16200, filter Chroma 3nm.

Click to enlarge the image.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by don4l

[happy-kat]

That is gorgeous, I see a lions head with a bilious flowing mane.

[geoflewis]

That's superb Donal, well done both on your perseverance and the final image.

[Dan13]

lovely image, love the way the crescent is just out there all alone  great job

[Sp@ce_d]

Wow.. that's nice to see.. puts things into perspective.. well done for sticking at it.... You'll be looking forward to adding the colour then.. 🤣

[don4l]

4 minutes ago, Sp@ce_d said:

Wow.. that's nice to see.. puts things into perspective.. well done for sticking at it.... You'll be looking forward to adding the colour then.. 🤣

You're not wrong.

I have started, and I like what I've managed so far,   but for the life of me, I cannot remember how I processed it.

If we get enough clear nights with no Moon, then I'll collect more OIII, but I don't think that I'll ever get beyond 4 panels.

[vineyard]

That is absolutely gorgeous - especially when you zoom in& see all those little stars.  Hypnotic. 👏🏾

[cuivenion]

Fantastic image.

[jiberjaber]

Wow - puts my 5 panel to shame! That's some dedication  Well done.

 

[Sp@ce_d]

2 hours ago, don4l said:

You're not wrong.

I have started, and I like what I've managed so far,   but for the life of me, I cannot remember how I processed it.

If we get enough clear nights with no Moon, then I'll collect more OIII, but I don't think that I'll ever get beyond 4 panels.

 

😮 Oh my!!  That is really starting to look very very nice indeed. I love this.. I do like a good Ha monochrome but this is starting to leap out! I didn't expect you to come back straight away with such a teaser.. no way you can stop now!.. Is that with all Chroma 3nm filters?

[don4l]

8 hours ago, Sp@ce_d said:

 

😮 Oh my!!  That is really starting to look very very nice indeed. I love this.. I do like a good Ha monochrome but this is starting to leap out! I didn't expect you to come back straight away with such a teaser.. no way you can stop now!.. Is that with all Chroma 3nm filters?

Thanks. 

Yes, it is all Chroma filters.

I had thought about 3nm filters for a long time, and couldn't justify the cost.  I first got the Ha and almost immediately ordered the OIII.  With hindsight,  I should have ordered the OIII first.

The 3nm filters made as big a difference as a new camera would, or a new telescope, for example - especially in heavy light pollution.

[MarkAR]

11 hours ago, don4l said:

but for the life of me, I cannot remember how I processed it.

Stunning mosaic, gorgeous area of the sky with so much going on.

If you used Pixinsight then loading the image I think includes the process history. You can then copy all the processes to a basket or drag to the window and apply to the new images keeping all the same settings.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Absolutely stunning work!

[callisto]

😮 WOW

I don't know if it's just my imagination but I can see a ducks head (or Swan) left of centre 😀....................😳.....................🤐

 

Mark

Edited August 4, 2020 by callisto
change wording

[ollypenrice]

That's a roaring success. Lovely, seamless job and a flowing composition made three dimensional by the Crescent.

(By chance I've just been processing a mega mosaic myself with the Crescent just in the bottom corner. It's OSC data shot by Yves Van den Broek.)

Olly

[The Admiral]

They are raaather nice! I do like the colour one. So what's been your total imaging time so far?

Ian

[tomato]

A stunning panorama, your perseverance has certainly paid off.

[don4l]

3 hours ago, The Admiral said:

They are raaather nice! I do like the colour one. So what's been your total imaging time so far?

Ian

Thank you.

About 12 - 14 hours in 2008.  All fairly useless due to halos, bad focus and general incompetence.

The above image has about 14 hours, gathered last year and this year,  I've also got 5 hours of OIII which is in the two colour panels.

I think that I would need about three hours OIII per panel,  so I am not at all confident that I will get that done in the next couple of years.

 

[don4l]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

That's a roaring success. Lovely, seamless job and a flowing composition made three dimensional by the Crescent.

(By chance I've just been processing a mega mosaic myself with the Crescent just in the bottom corner. It's OSC data shot by Yves Van den Broek.)

Olly

Thank you, Olly.  I'm quite chuffed that you commented on the 3d effect.  I was trying to emphasise this in the processing.

 

 

[Tom OD]

That Ha is super. Love the whispy bits at the top if the image.

Tom

[don4l]

6 hours ago, Tom OD said:

That Ha is super. Love the whispy bits at the top if the image.

Tom

Thank you.

I agree about the top row.  I wasn't going to image it, but it seemed to add something.

The wispy bit around the bright star in the top left looks very interesting.  I hope to get back to that part and do something with it.

[gorann]

Your 16 panel Ha image is just great - I will save it for reference when looking for targets in Cygnus. I still wait for the stamina to attempt to do big mosaics like that, maybe when I retire.....

[don4l]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

Your 16 panel Ha image is just great - I will save it for reference when looking for targets in Cygnus. I still wait for the stamina to attempt to do big mosaics like that, maybe when I retire.....

Thanks, Gorann.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by don4l

[Red Chilli]

On 03/08/2020 at 21:49, don4l said:

All other processing was done in Affinity, and a very small amount of star reduction in Gimp.

I'm shocked.  You don't using Pix or other expensive software, and final photo is just beautiful