M78 - From Utah

Hello all. I just finished a new image of M78 and NGC2071. This was taken with the SXVF-H16 camera that I have been getting to know. This area has a lot of subtle color that was somewhat difficult to process. I am interested in feedback on this one, because I could have gone a different route with the processing. You often see this object processed in a way that eliminates much of the surrounding dust and dim red nubulosity. I tried to hold it in this version. The image below is reduced, but here is a link to the full version on my website, if you are intersted. Exposure details are on the website.

http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html

Cheers,
Tyler

Attached Image:

Nice shot Tyler....new camera?

Nice shot, Tyler! This object and the area around it is one that I've always meant to image but never got around to trying.

Eric

Floyd,
Thanks for the comments and for taking time to mess with the image a bit. Your version looks pretty good, but is a little overstretched and washed out on my screen. The background becomes a bit too mottled for my taste if I stretch too hard.

I think the stars are actually tinted red in this region because of all the dust and Ha emissions, so I'm not sure if it is appropriate to force them away from the red shading. It seems to me that the deeper red in the background needs to be there, and I processed to keep it there on purpose. I'm sure our monitors are probably not the same, so it is often hard to make comparisons. I use a spider to calibrate mine, but I'm not sure how effective it actually is in getting everything just right. I can easily see the nebulosity on my screen, but perhaps yours is a bit darker. I am always amazed at how hard it is to stop messing with an image and call it good. It seems that one can always tweak it a bit more.
Cheers,
Tyler

Simply beautiful Tyler! 8) great colors & detail!

This is a tough object to image, due to the bright core & faint features around it. You seem to have the right tools to capture it just right... well done!

Thanks for sharing!

Very nice Tyler, not that I know anything about imagining, let alone processing!
I like the dark lanes and faint outlying nebulosity.
Linton

Hi Tyler,

Nice job on this,it came out great!

I shot this one awhile back,it is a much tougher target than I thought it would be! Getting good signal to noise on the faint dust and nebulosity is difficult,it really soaks up the exposure time. I am wondering if Ha would help bring out the fainter parts?


Excellent work!

Jason

Nice Tyler!!

Tom