Pacman Nebula in September

[MarkS]

Pacman Nebula taken over 4 nights in September, including Kelling Heath.

17 hours of data in 5 minute subs at ISO 800.
Modified Canon 350D on Tak Epsilon 180ED with IDAS LPS-D1 filter



My intention was to capture the dust in the surrounding area but it was a real pig to process.  There is much more that can potentially be brought out of the data to emphasize the dust but every time I tried to do so, the Pacman Nebula itself looked horrible, so this is my best compromise.

It looks better in the larger size:
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2014/pacman30092014.jpg

In the bottom right of the larger image I've managed to chop off an small interesting looking reflection nebula.

The Pacman itself actually looks much better in mono, with just the red channel data.  With the green and blue channels included, it loses an awful lot of contrast.

Mark

[Carole]

17 hours Mark - Phew - great work!!

I always admire your star colours.

Carole

[The Thing]

Thats quite something, there is loads of faint red dust in patches quite a long way out from the main body of Mr Pacman. Maybe it needs a version processed for the Pacman and a version processed for the dust and then merged. 

And the reflection nebula does look interesting.

[mickw]

Nice one Mark

[Fay]

well done mark, so many stars and lovely colours!!

[JohnP]

Looks good mark & great colours. Like you said the Pacman itself looks a little diffuse - I would so love to have seen the result you would have got with your setup using 17hrs & a dedicated B&W camera...

John

[MarkS]

Thanks all.  This one definitely needs a full re-process and I think I may have thought of a way to tackle it ...

[julian]

Very nice, like the colours and details in the image

[MarkS]

Here's the full re-process.
The dust has come out better and I've just about managed to keep the star bloat under control.

 

Bigger version:
http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2014/pacman30092014v2.jpg

Mark

[Fay]

I really like that Mark, nice and subtle, great star colours

[The Thing]

Amazing. Next Astronomy Now cover or there's no justice.

It just goes to show how much of the result is down to processing once you have acquired good data and how pernickity it can be to get the right combination of adjustments and settings to get such different results.

[Carole]

I agree Duncan, processing is half the battle, but you need some decent data to start with, as Mark's is.

Beautiful image Mark.

Carole

[mickw]

Real good Mark and better star colour

[MarkS]

I've just found this version:
http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/ngc281.html

It's the best colour version of the Pacman I've ever seen - 31 hours of data with very decent equipment.  Now I'm very depressed

Interestingly, he has rendered his surrounding dust as whitish/grey.  I've seen that trick before and it's probably because the chrominance was too noisy.

Mark

[RobertM]

Oh dear !  That'll teach you - never look for a better version no matter how good yours is (or stock up with beer beforehand) !

Very good reprocess indeed !

Robert