The “Ghosts” are emission (IC 63 mainly) and reflection nebulae in Cas, about 600 light-years from Earth. The bright star that IC 63 is pointing toward is gamma-Cas (Navi), a spectroscopic binary star, which illuminates the gas and dust clouds to give the ghostly appearance.
Not sure if I like the Ha in B/W from my previous post for IC59/63 better than the HaRGB image I have here. Could just be my less-than-optimal processing of the RGB data. Still 'cogitating'. 🙂
Capture Dates: 7/22, 7/31 (Ha), 8/9, 8/16, and 8/23
Moon age: 9.84 days; Avg. Moon phase: 41.54%
Askar 107PHQ (fL = 749mm)
ASI2600MM Pro (Monochrome camera)
ZWO 7-position 2" Electronic Filter Wheel (EFW)
ZWO AM5 mount with guiding via SV106 and ASI178MM
Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 2": 25×300″(2h 5′)
Antlia Luminance Pro: 57×90″(1h 25′ 30″)
Antlia V-Pro Blue 2": 77×90″(1h 55′ 30″)
Antlia V-Pro Green 2": 52×90″(1h 18′)
Antlia V-Pro Red 2": 50×90″(1h 15′)
Integration:7h 59′Avg.
All light frames calibrated with dark, flat, and bias frames
Pre- and post-processed in PixInsight
Additional post-processing in Photoshop for generation of reduced size jpeg
Very nice work, Greg!
It looks like a tough project, to manage the faint but important details with Navi in the same FOV. Great touch!
@peter-gillette Thanks so much, Peter! I think what's bugging me is that I seem to have lost some of the nebula structure that I had in the BW (Ha) image. I'm going to try a couple of different things and see if I can get some of it back.
Thanks again!
Greg
I decided to take another crack at getting a little more nebulosity in the image. Seemed like a lot of work to fill things out just little, but I think I got a bit more out of the image -- hopefully without ruining anything that was good in the first one!
Greg
I decided to take another crack at getting a little more nebulosity in the image. Seemed like a lot of work to fill things out just little, but I think I got a bit more out of the image -- hopefully without ruining anything that was good in the first one!
Greg
Cool image Greg. Seems like you may need some additional time on this one to display colors, but it's a very neat image. So much sky and so few cloudless nights!
Terri
@terri Thanks for having a look and for the suggestion, Terri. Which colors do you think need to be enhanced with additional time on target, the Ha, RGB, or all of them?
Greg
@terri Thanks for having a look and for the suggestion, Terri. Which colors do you think need to be enhanced with additional time on target, the Ha, RGB, or all of them?
Greg
Hey Greg, the image seemed a bit grainy and bright. I took the liberty of pulling into photoshop, reset the black level (the background levels and some dust lanes, are far too dim to present (just IMHO)). Then ran noisex and then resized to 2800x n and reposted at high quality. I think having to use high compression at large sizes hurts as well, so I always export to a lower overall size and higher image quality. So maybe it wasn't so much time as the way you presented it. And as you know, it's all in the eye of the beholder so that is just for me. I might even make it a bit darker than I presented it, to increase contrast. To me this looked better, but YMMV.
@terri Thanks, Terri! I’m on my phone right now (over my granddaughters’) and can’t really see the image well enough to see differences. I’ll take a look later when I get home. I appreciate the help!
Greg
@Terri I see the difference here at home, Terri. I like the contrast in yours better. Lost just a bit of the peripheral nebulosity around the outside of the Ghosts, but it does look a lot cleaner and I like the darker background. Thanks again!
Greg
