NGC6888/Crescent nebula and Soap Bubble

[RickS]

This is a narrowband bi-colour image based on test data from a new obsy being commissioned in New Mexico.

Approx 4 hours of Ha and 9 hours of Oiii captured with a Tak FSQ-106ED and QSI683.

The result is heavily magenta, but you'd expect that when mixing Ha and Oiii :) The Crescent Nebula, NGC 6888, is pretty obvious. It is a large gaseous shell created by the Wolf-Rayet star HD 192163. In the middle of the image towards the bottom is a much fainter planetary, PN G75.5+1.7, aka the Soap Bubble nebula.

Higher res version here: http://www.astrobin.com/180815/

Cheers,
Rick.

[IanP]

The Bubble is a beauty, Rick :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[jase]

That's a cracker of an image Rick. Great to see the soap bubble in the same fov. Did you perform any star size reduction to get the nebulosity to come through? The Ha/OIII blend looks spot on. Very nice.

[rustigsmed]

wow what a stunner! awesome Rick!

Russ

[RickS]

Thanks, Ian!



Thanks, Jase. I removed the stars almost completely from the Ha and Oiii used to create the base colour image to prevent halos from the much bigger stretch needed for the Oiii. I also did some star reduction on the Luminance. I always do with this scope/camera combination as it tends to produce bloated stars.



Thanks, Russ!

[jase]

Rick, could you not just use the stars from the Ha filtered subs alone. I would imagine they present a small stellar profile given the narrow bandpass of the filter. Would be easier, yes?

[RickS]

Jase,

The Ha definitely had tighter stars but I couldn't use the Ha as Luminance by itself because there were significant features that were only visible in the Oiii (the blue shell around NGC6888 and the whole Soap Bubble.) So, I built the Luminance with PixelMath from the original Ha and Oiii. I suppose I could have used the starless Oiii in this process and I would have ended up with just the Ha stars but I would have needed to clean up some of the artefacts in the starless Oiii.

Ideally, I would have some RGB stars to plug in to the image but alas I don't...

Did that answer your question or did I misunderstand you?

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir]

As always, an image that pleases the eye and teaches a thing or two about data processing. Thank you Rick for sharing.

[jase]

Yes, thanks Rick. I didn't realise there were artefacts in both Ha and OIII data sets. Good job at masking them up.

[DavidTrap]

Fantastic image Rick - can't believe this is "test data"...

DT

[SkyViking]

A splendid image with a lot of definition and detail. Love the soap bubble too :)
Thanks for the view Rick.

[cometcatcher]

Lovely image Rick! I didn't know about the soap bubble.

[Paul Haese]

I like this one. Really like the bubbles in this image. The processing is very nice except I don't like the orange near the top. Other than that I really think it is a fabulous image.

[RickS]

Thank you, Slawomir! I'm just making it up as I go along :)



Only after I removed the stars, Jase. I do find it worthwhile for narrowband colour. It solves all those issues with horrible coloured star halos. That's the big technique I picked up from JP Metsavainio's tone map processing.



Thanks, David. We have high standards for our testing ;)



Thanks, Rolf!



Ta, Kevin. I had heard of it but wasn't really sure where it was until it I was looking over the Oiii data at full res and it just popped out!



Thanks, Paul. You wouldn't believe how hard I tried to stop the orange bit turning magenta and getting posterized! It really is a different colour to the rest of the background :)

Cheers,
Rick.

[Ross G]

A great looking photo Rick.

Beautiful detail and colours.

Love the composition.

Ross.

[DJT]

That's a great image. The details are great and Soap bubble planetary is quite something. Tops job :thumbsup:

[Rex]

Holy cow Rick, that's awesome! Love the colours and detail.

[LewisM]

Clean and slick...

[Bassnut]

wow thats excellent Rick, monster 3d effect.

[Stevec35]

Well you're knocking over these northern objects with ridiculous ease Rick. Fantastic image! I really like the 3D effect on the Crescent.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks Ross, David, Rex, Lewis, Fred & Steve!

[strongmanmike]

Wow! excellent work Ricki a magestic field that and I think (for a southerner :whistle:) you have done a great job on for sure...as for the orange? huh? :question: looks good to me :shrug:

Great work :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike. :)

BTW, Sakib Rasool pointed out to me that I also captured the nebulosity around the hypergiant luminous blue variable star P Cygni that is discussed in this paper: http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2006/37/aa6039-06.pdf

P Cygni has a brightness of 4.8 now but at the end of the 16th century it was unknown until it suddenly brightened to mag 3. The paper mentioned above suggests that the filamentary nebulosity and giant lobes around the star were created by its earlier shenanigans.

Interesting that the results from 9 hours on a 106mm scope compare well to 40 minutes on their 1.3m Ritchey-Cretien :D

The attached crop shows the Soap Bubble clearly on the right and the knot of nebulosity around P Cygni (the brightest star) on the left.

[gregbradley]

That's a fabulous image Rick. Really outstanding. The only way that could be improved would be if it were done on an AP140!

Greg.

[Rod771]

Fantastic, Rick! :thumbsup:

Really nice image for test data. Love the bubble, fascinating object!

[RickS]

Thanks, Greg :) I finally got around to documenting the camera problem last night and emailed Andor. I got a RMA number this morning. Hopefully, the turnaround on the camera repair won't be long.



Thanks, Rod!

[Meru]

Stunning image Rick! Looking forward to more :)

[RickS]

Ta, Meru! I have quite a few "old" images still to process and two new remote scopes about to come online. Perhaps I should retire and process full time :)

[MGTechDVP]

The detail you captured is awesome... I don't mind the magenta look.

[RickS]

Thanks, Mariusz!

[Retrograde]

Amazing image. That soap-bubble is spectacular.

[RickS]

Thanks, Pete!

[DavidTrap]

^ First world problem :P

DT

[RickS]

Yes indeed, David :lol:

[Leonardo70]

Very nice Rick.

All the best,
Leo

[marco]

Superb efforts Rick, the bluish halo on NGC6888 a the soapy bubble are really a pleasure to see. I would add some RGB to recover the color of the Stars and give them a a little bit of life, but that just a minor comment on a great image..
Regards
Marco

[AlexSavoy]

Looks amazing! Congrats on the result.

[RickS]

Thanks, Leo.



Thanks, Marco. I'm always keen to add some RGB but we didn't get any for this field... at least not yet. It was really just test data.



Thanks, Alex.

[gregbradley]

This one would make a good print. Its bold and colourful and would look great in a modern house.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Many of Ricks recent masterpieces fit that bill really, he has developed a very distinctive and unique style...possible side business Rick...? :D

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Greg. I'll probably print a few more images including this one and see how they look on the walls at home (first I need to talk my wife into taking down a few paintings!) We have a nice modern home but it has a lot of windows and not much useful hanging space.



Not sure I have the sales & marketing skills, Mike, but thanks for the kind comment.