Re: [APML] Lagoon Mosaic Revisited

[Ray Butler <ray.butler@nuigalway.ie>]

Robert,

While not wanting to nitpick something that is near perfection, I wonder 
why the stars in the last 5% or so at the right hand side suddenly go 
all blurry? Was this due to some aggressive de-noising of an area which 
received less exposure than the rest?

Also, you do realise that the image is upside-down (unless one's 
viewpoint is from the Southern Hemisphere)?  You need to rotate it 180 
degrees to get the usual "North up and East to the left" presentation.

I got a large book when I was 15 years old which I always found really 
inspirational - "Amateur Astronomy" edited by Colin Ronan, published by 
Newnes. It was a major factor in steering me into astronomy as a 
profession; I still have it here on my shelf. Actually the title was 
something of a misnomer, as it was really a seriously good book on 
astronomy in general, not shying away at all from astrophysical 
concepts, and with as much treatment given to the most recent (circa 
1985) professional techniques, results and theories as to the amateur 
side of things. Anyway, on page 167 is a beautiful full-page colour 
photo of the Lagoon and Triffid nebulae taken by the 1.2m UK Schmidt 
telescope in Australia. Comparing it now to yours, it obviously has a 
much wider FOV and it just edges yours on stellar crispness, but yours 
beats it on depth and on detail within the nebula. That is quite remarkable.

Ray "who recalls his excitement at first seeing the Lagoon in 1986, 
hovering in the June perma-twilight over his 52N horizon" Butler

-- 
Dr. Ray Butler
Lecturer, Physics Department & Computational Astrophysics Laboratory,
National University of Ireland - Galway, 
University Road, Galway, Ireland. 
Web: www.nuigalway.ie/physics/ 	Email: ray.butler-AT-nuigalway.ie 
Tel: +353-91-493788 		FAX: +353-91-494584

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