IC 5146 - Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus

Can I ask how you get the spikes on the stars if you are using a refractor?

I hadn't spotted that little detail! Me thinks an aperture mask of some kind is being employed. If you look at the full-sized image you can even see that the spikes display a chromatic diffraction pattern - rainbow colours along their length. Very cool!

Stunning image!

Phil.

Well done (old man) :lol: :lol:

Dear friends .... and Carl,

.....

:mrgreen:

Can I ask how you get the spikes on the stars if you are using a refractor?

I attach a pair of strings in the form of a cross across the dew shield so as to produce these spikes. It is purely for aesthetic reasons ... some people really like them and others really hate them.

Picture perfect mate. Another notch in the bedpost for you.

Thanks bud.

I meant to ask you about star colours. When I do clusters I tend to get a ring of colour rather than a nice even star colour. I read an article about dslr imaging that said a good way of getting colour in a long exposure image was to gradually shift the focus since colour comes out better that way. Ever tried it? I might give it a shot next year when the clouds go away.

Here we have a double-edged sword ... we need sufficient RGB exposure to have good signal for stellar colour and sufficiently LOW Lum exposure so as not to burn out the colour once we do our luminance layering. It is for this reason I am very careful with my LRGB subs.

As for the technique you describe, you should VERY slightly defocus so as to get better colour rendition. However, all astrophotographers are so preoccupied with getting perfect focus that we must rely on proper subs.

Congrats again on the image, I'm off to look at timeshares in Greece.

There are a lot of Europeans moving to Greece ... especially from the UK, Germany and France. Seriously.

Well done (old man) :lol: :lol:

Dear friends .... and Carl,

.....

:mrgreen:

Hehehe!

Anto, the link is broken at this moment in time.

Well done (old man) :lol: :lol:

Dear friends .... and Carl,

.....

:mrgreen:

Hehehe!

Anto, the link is broken at this moment in time.

Seanie,

I just checked and it seems fine. Perhaps a temporary hick-up.

See you tomorrow with the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946) or M27.