M29 (with background emission)

Here is an image of M29 with 10 min H-Alpha exposures capturing some of the background that seems to be all through the Cygnus region. (Well, I am really not sure of the clusters distance relative to the nebulosity - but I'll still call it background.) A full size image and exposure / processing detail is here:

http://jthommes.com/Astro/M29.htm

Megrez II 80 mm with WO FFIII (f/5.9)
Artemis285 HA, IR/UV Block, and RGB filters
G11/Gemini
Guiding - C8 at 1350 mm, DSI Pro, PHD Guiding

M29 in a 2004 version in a narrower field is here:

http://jthommes.com/MiscAstro/Archives/M29.htm

Hi Jim,

Nice,I like how the Ha added depth to the image,bringing out the dark,dusty areas and adding nice detail in the background.

You retained the star colors very well in the cluster too.


Jason

Nice shot. Good question as to which is "in front". That looks like your Ha "blending" with L and R worked well, so I would be interested in more details of that. (Done in AstroArt or Photoshop? 50-50 mixes? Add? Average? etc...) Also again thanks for posting your "progress" links.

Charlie

Nicely combined Jim! The "background" adds a lot.

Thanks for the comments folks.

Charlie, The Ha / Red blending was done in Photoshop. I do a star mask so as to avoid any color distortion on the stars. The blending is a 100% lighten with the stars masked out. The key on the starmask is to fuzz the larger stars with blur - then shrink the mask with a 50% faded maximum. Then the whole thing gets another slight blur - makes a nice smooth transitions on the star edges.

Open clusters are often over looked. You image them better than most. Nicely done!

Tom