NGC281 Pacman Nebula in close...

[RichieJarvis]

Hi All,

Whilst at Sir Patrick's on Thursday night, I decided to setup the C8 for some narrowband imaging.

The best target I could fine was the Pacman Nebula, so I shot 25 x 5 minute subs through my Ha filter. It came out rather well, but I wanted to add some colour to the image, so I dusted off my old AP102 Pacman data from last year and combined my C8 data with that in MaximDL.

Here is the result - a nice close in view of the centre of the Pacman Nebula:

Full equipment/exposure details, and a full-sized version are available here: Pacman Nebula Details

Thanks for looking - comments welcome!

Cheers,

Richie

[Euan]

Very nice, I've never seen it that close in before!

[Beyond_Vision]

Thats come out nicely Richie, the bok globules stand out well

Regards

Kevin

[Psychobilly]

Hi All,

Whilst at Sir Patrick's on Thursday night,

Richie

Oh.. you name dropper RJ

Nicely captured and processed closeup...

Peter...

[RichieJarvis]

Oh.. you name dropper RJ

Nicely captured and processed closeup...

Peter...

Of course

Incidentally, which do you guys/gals prefer?

We have the following choices:

Black and White - just data from Selsey:

False Colour - just data from Selsey:

Reduced Green - Combined Ha from home and Selsey, OIII from home:

Reduced Blue - Combined Ha from home and Selsey, OIII from home:

(By reduced green/blue - what I mean is that I put Ha into the red channel, OIII into the blue/green channels. I then reduced the intensity of the 'reduced' colour using the levels tool)

Would love to know which folks prefer!

Cheers,

Richie

[Psychobilly]

Of course

Which bit the name dropper or the nicely....

[RichieJarvis]

Oh, name dropper - certainly!

[Psychobilly]

The B&W mono one......

[RichieJarvis]

Any particular reason Peter?

[Psychobilly]

Well....

Mini Saturns with blue ears on the stars in the "purple" one...green Halos on the "pizza" one...Not enough contrast on the pink one...

And I have been got at by Celescope

[Tom OD]

lovely shot and the Boks look super. I prefer the initial post. It looks like you sharpened the areas behind the main dark nebula section which gave it a nice 3D effect. Great job.

[Talitha]

B&W for me too, Richie.

For me, color in DSO images is a distraction rather than an enhancement. There's something very pure about a B&W image... like Ansel Adams' photography, i guess.

(JMHO of course, YMMV. )

[roundycat]

couldn't resist joining in now someone has made comments about Ansel Adams, on whom I am something of an expert. Well, I think so anyway. Mono without a doubt.

Dennis

[Camkorn]

My fave is the last one - this is coming from a total untrained unprofessional eye though! To be honest they all look fantastic!

[oceanheadted]

Thanks Camkorn, I was beginning to think I was a bit weird as I like the last one too.

Carol I think the colors of these things is one of the best bits of astro imaging. It's a bit like having the key to a secret garden you can never find if you just look through your telescope (that's a bit of mixed metaphor!).

[RichieJarvis]

I think what we are seeing here is the difference between 2 camps - the 'realists', and the 'artists'

I am afraid the colours appeal to my 'art' side - a failing of mine really....

[Tim]

Only just noticed this one.

I prefer the final coloured one, for the simple reason that it helps to reveal more of the structure of the nebula than the others. In mono it is hard to see much difference between the areas of grey, but when they are contrasting colours, the depth and complexity of the emission clouds really start to demonstrate what they are about.

And it's more arty

[RichieJarvis]

thanks TJ