A Quiz and A Question...

[Mike Lewis]

So I have a new image that is a 3 panel vertical pano. I decided to post a crop out of the middle of it first for 2 reasons:

1) vertical orientation panos never look show off their detail well online. So I thought this central crop would be a good teaser of the object. Can anyone guess what object this is from just this cropped area?

2) I am torn on how large the stars need to be to keep the image looking real, while still allowing the underlying nebulosity to show through to greatest effect. The large star version actually has the star size increased, whereas the small star version is closer to the original star sizes. Gotta love that Redcat 91 - it focuses SO crisply...

So here you go - guess what the overall object is that is teased in this crop, and let me know of a preference between the 2 star treatments...I'll post the full image soon.

Large Star Version:

Small Star Version:

ML

 

[JimFox]

Great Quiz!!!

First off I like the small star version better. The stars are there to anchor the image, but they don't dominate the image.

(answering the quiz in no particular order)

The name, or a guess of the name is right on the tip of my tongue, I don't want to look anything up, and cheat. But it does look familiar.

As to the vertical vs Horizontal, it's one thing I dislike about the Seestar Smart Telescopes, they have the sensor vertical. I have been drawn lately to the Dwarf Labs scopes since they are horizontal, and was kind of thinking that would be my next one, once they upgrade it. But now ZWO has announced the S50 Pro. So that's really tempting, even though I hate the vertical.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Great Quiz!!!

First off I like the small star version better. The stars are there to anchor the image, but they don't dominate the image.

(answering the quiz in no particular order)

The name, or a guess of the name is right on the tip of my tongue, I don't want to look anything up, and cheat. But it does look familiar.

As to the vertical vs Horizontal, it's one thing I dislike about the Seestar Smart Telescopes, they have the sensor vertical. I have been drawn lately to the Dwarf Labs scopes since they are horizontal, and was kind of thinking that would be my next one, once they upgrade it. But now ZWO has announced the S50 Pro. So that's really tempting, even though I hate the vertical.

Jim,

I will reveal this soon. I am sure I would not have recognized this area of the sky either, before actually imaging this target myself.

Yes I saw about the new S50 Pro. It really is a little strange they enforce that vertical framing, especially since the new sensors are 16:9 aspect ratio if I recall.

I am leaning towards the small star version myself. Will see if anyone else chimes in...

ML

 

[JimFox]

Hopefully @Andy Elliott or @kiwiapple will check in and give their thoughts.

 

[JimFox]

As to the S50 Pro, I will probably wait until Christmas, but I am hoping Dwarf Labs will give a few hints on what they have in the works now that ZWO has released this.

 

[kiwiapple]

How fun! For me, I prefer the small star version, and I suspect that it might be the Elephant's Trunk nebula but it's certainly a northern-hemisphere target, so I'm a bit out of my depth.

 

[kiwiapple]

I just used my recently-released freeware application, AstroFrame, to identify the image you presented, so I now know the answer (and I was way off). If anyone's interested in it, you can download it for Mac or Windows (I'm not a notarised Apple developer, so it isn't signed) at www.github.com/jlg84/AstroFrame.

 

[kiwiapple]

As far as the S50 Pro is concerned, I don't see a use case for me for it. As it is my S50 spends most of its time idle, so I hardly can get a new telescope into the house without a serious talking-to from my spouse....

 

[Mike Lewis]

James,

Good guess, just by what you can see in this snippet. I may post another close-up of an area that gives away a litle bit more, so thanks for giving out the answer

ML

 

[Mike Lewis]

OK, here is a second hint - I think thisa gives away a lot more about the target, although if you haven't yet imaged this one (or as james mentions, it is in the wrong hemisphere for you) perhaps even this does not give it away...

From the overlapping regions you should be able to tell how these 2 sections go together...Even with 3 panels in the mosaic I struggled to fit this whole object in as it just a little bit too wide. But I got close.

ML