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Winter Horsehead project, uphill struggle

MartinB

By MartinB
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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MartinB

MartinB

Posted
Posted

I have been working on this for sometime now but have been away a fair bit which doesn't help.

I got about 4 hours of Ha with a full moon right next door but I found the results almost as good as a later, darker night when I managed another 3 hours.

Since then I've been battling to get half way decent colour data. I've had a few clear spells but have been plagued by very poor transparency and thinning cloud turning up out of the blue and not picked up by satellite pics. Horrible haloes and so on. The kit is still set up for some more subs but I'm starting to loose the will to live.

Scope: Tak FSQ 106 at F3.8

Camera:QSI 532

Filters: Baader 7nm Ha and astronomic type II RGB

Ha 21x20mins

R+G approx 30x100 secs each and B 30x140 secs unbinned. (had a lot more but had to be ditched)

Captured, calibrated aligned and combined in Maxim. Ha deconvolved in CCDStack. Processed in PS with a touch of star spikes pro. The colour image has used the Ha for luminence and has also been blended into the RGB using a combination of red and 18%blue.

I set out wanting to capture the dark nebulosity beneath the horse head and am pleased that this has shows up ok.

post-12794-13387751703_thumb.jpg

post-12794-133877517037_thumb.jpg

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Awe, c'mon, that is gorgeous.

The Flame is razor sharp, Alnitak is on best behaviour and showing as a double on my little lappy here...

I know you have some clever Ha combining methods but maybe I sense the onset of 'pink with blue haloes.' Only just, mimd, and I only say it because I think the image is utterly stunnning and because you are big enough to tell me to jump in the Buech. (Ha, can't, cos ts frozen!!)

No, it is lovely, Martin and superbly framed. Low bow. One of the best.

Heading south to include M42??

Olly

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MartinB

MartinB

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Thanks a lot everyone for the encouraging comments

I know you have some clever Ha combining methods but maybe I sense the onset of 'pink with blue haloes.' Only just, mimd, and I only say it because I think the image is utterly stunnning and because you are big enough to tell me to jump in the Buech. (Ha, can't, cos ts frozen!!)

One of the best.

Heading south to include M42??

Olly

Olly, the halos are the result of the high cloud I was shooting through when doing the RGB, they really punch through the Ha and I've not found a good way of tidying them up.

Going down to M42 would be a 10 year job with the QSI 532 but maybe when I have my SX M26 sorted.

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oldfruit

oldfruit

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Simply stunning image. The newer folk like myself are glad that imagers like yourself put so much effort into producing images of this quality. After all it is images liks this that probably got most of us into the hobby in the first place.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Thanks a lot everyone for the encouraging comments

Olly, the halos are the result of the high cloud I was shooting through when doing the RGB, they really punch through the Ha and I've not found a good way of tidying them up.

Going down to M42 would be a 10 year job with the QSI 532 but maybe when I have my SX M26 sorted.

Ah, I see. I binned a panel of my Orion mosaic for just this reason. Pesky, isn't it.

Olly

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

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Wow that is really pin sharp and gorgeous. Worth every ounce of effort put into it Martin. Really looking forward to the finished article. I know what you mean about the weather as I havent got a decent image since October :)

Keep at it Martin the dark areas bellow the HH are coming along nicely :)

Regards

Kevin

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Shibby

Shibby

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Martin, that must be the prettiest image I have seen! :)

The colours are gorgeous and what can I say about the framing and composition? With the horsehead taking centre stage (almost literally) it's inspiring stuff!

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