Sharpless 115 - a bit miffed!

[petevasey]

I don't think I ever posted my image of Sh2-115 last October (2022).   The emission nebula in Cygnus shows an interesting variation of colours with narrow band imaging. This started out as a Hubble Palette (SHO) image and with various colour manipulations nicely differentiates between the main nebula to the left, a broad strip of Hydrogen Alpha emission to the right and the smaller Sharpless 116 to the right, also classified as a planetary nebula PK 85+4.1. The data was captured over a number of nights, initially during the Kelling Heath Autumn Star Party (19th - 25th September 2022) and finished off during a stay at Kielder the following week. The small open cluster towards the top of the main nebula is Berkeley 90. QSI 683 on SharpStar 140 with TS FLAT2 and SX AO unit. Luminance 22 x 10 minutes, OIII and SII each 11 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2.

However....

I submitted my image to Astronomy Now but it was never used.  It's the first one below.  But in the August 2023 issue there was a similar (but larger area) image of the same object as Image of the Month.  Nick Szymanek commented that it 'is a little off the beaten track but will be getting much more attention'.  So I am somewhat miffed that mine wasn't used.  The main difference is that their image hardly showed any stars, the gas clouds being given priority. So I've reworked mine accordingly and here it is.  Well, maybe it's prettier, but for example most of the open cluster Berkeley 90 and many other stars are missing.  What do you reckon?

[peter shah]

beautiful job

[cajen2]

Personally, I prefer the one with the stars, but there again, I always do!

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I like to see the stars generally, but in situations where they obscure too much of the nebulous areas, some reduction is beneficial. For my taste, I think somewhere between the 2 above would hit that sweet spot. 

[windjammer]

I agree, an in-betweener would be my choice.  And IMHO some work on star colours, a bit too magenta-ish ?  Looks like measles!

[petevasey]

1 hour ago, windjammer said:

I agree, an in-betweener would be my choice.  And IMHO some work on star colours, a bit too magenta-ish ?  Looks like measles!

That's one of the problems with narrow band imaging!  But now I've played with Starnet to help reduce the stars, I'll  have a go at recolouring them on their own.  Probably not for another week - family holiday coming up.

Thanks all for your comments.

Cheers,

Peter.

[petevasey]

Forget about the holiday bit - didn't take long, so here is one with star colours altered and more in the image.   Any better?

Cheers,

Peter

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by petevasey

[windjammer]

I had a quick play on the noise - hope you don't mind : )

Simon

[simmo39]

Wonderful images but definitely like the Inbetweener one the best.

[petevasey]

I had a quick play on the noise - hope you don't mind : )

Simon

Thanks Simon.  It's a fine line between noise and detail, but I've smoothed the background a little more for the final image on my web site.  The full size is also posted there.

Cheers,

Peter

[ollypenrice]

3 hours ago, petevasey said:

I had a quick play on the noise - hope you don't mind : )

Simon

Thanks Simon.  It's a fine line between noise and detail, but I've smoothed the background a little more for the final image on my web site.  The full size is also posted there.

Cheers,

Peter

I like the final one best. Have you tried Noise Xterminator, Peter? I find it reduces noise without significantly impacting on detail. I always apply it as a top layer so I can erase any bright parts which contain detail and don't need the NR but, usually, it's not worth erasing them. My favourite sharpening tool, rather bizarrely, has become Topaz Denoise AI.

Olly

[petevasey]

Thanks, Olly. Unfortunately my Photoshop is too old for Noise Xterminator, I use Neat Image, which works quite well on selected areas.  One of these years I'll get Pixinsight!

Cheers

Peter