Hubble's Hidden Treasures Contest 2012

[avdhoeven]

Here is some more hubble imagery not processed this way before:

NGC 3314 Two overlapping galaxies
Full resolution: http://www.astro-photo.nl/photoblog/ind ... wimage=183
Copyright: Hubble Legacy team/NASA/ESA processing: André van der Hoeven

Click to view full size image

For the color layer images from the WFPC2 detector were used (450, 555, 675 and 814 nm). For the luminance high resolution ACS detector images in two bandwidths (475 and 606 nm) were used. This results in a high resolution image with better color information than the original image from the hubble team from 2005.


NGC 1376 A spiral galaxy from above
Full resolution: http://www.astro-photo.nl/photoblog/ind ... wimage=182
Copyright: Hubble Legacy team/NASA/ESA processing: André van der Hoeven

Click to view full size image

In this overhead image of NGC 1376 in total 8 bands of hubble imagery were used to obtain the color and detail. This results in a highresolution image of this beautiful galaxy...

[avdhoeven]

Well, this was my hardest job until now. Combining the different datasets to get equal colors was really hard. M77 was not fully covered by one dataset, so I had to combine channels of the WFPC2 with different wavelengths and tune the colors to get them to fit. But the result is in my opinion quite astonishing. Unbelievable this one was not released before....

Datasets used (a lot ):
hst_05754_01_wfpc2_f336w_wf
hst_05754_01_wfpc2_f502n_wf
hst_05754_01_wfpc2_f547m_wf
hst_05754_01_wfpc2_f658n_wf
hst_05754_01_wfpc2_f791w_wf
hst_05942_01_wfpc2_f673n_wf
HST_9788_02_ACS_WFC_F658N
HST_9788_02_ACS_WFC_F814W

Messier 77 HST
http://www.astro-photo.nl/photoblog/ind ... ategory=33
Copyright: Hubble Legacy Team/NASA/ESA processing: André van der Hoeven

Click to view full size image

[geckzilla]

Struggling to find data that's not ugly yet not already processed. There's a good number of galaxies marred by heavy seams and that one tiny square that always likes to be the noisy problem child.

NGC3185

[bystander]

Struggling to find data that's not ugly yet not already processed. There's a good number of galaxies marred by heavy seams and that one tiny square that always likes to be the noisy problem child.

That's probably why they haven't been made into pretty pictures. I applaud your efforts, though (and avdhoeven's).

[geckzilla]

I've spent hours on some of them thinking I could coax some beauty out only to garbage the results. ...Or for this one I settled on adding to Wikimedia Commons because even though it's not that great, there's nothing else out there or what is out there is even blurrier.

[avdhoeven]

Go look for the ACS data and use the WFPC2 as color info. There is some great images in the ACS database, and they are much less noisy. Or look for narrowband imagery, they are also less noisy.....

[Ann]

I like both your latest galaxy pictures, geckzilla. I really like how your processed image of NGC 3185 brings out the brilliance of the nuclear region and the relative dimness of the rest of the galaxy. I like how you show us that there are just a few bright blue clusters in the ring. What could be slightly confusing about your image is the fact that the nuclear region looks so blue. This suggests that there is a bright ring of star formation around the nucleus. Judging from other pictures I have seen of NGC 3185, however, I don't think that this galaxy has such a ring. Nevertheless, your image it is a striking one.

Your processed image of NGC 4670 is even more interesting. I'm not sure that I have ever seen a color picture of this galaxy before. Amazingly, my software classifies this galaxy as type SB0-a! This suggests that the galaxy is barred and has a large bulge and no or rather insignificant arms. It also suggests that the galaxy has little or no star formation. Your image, however, shows us an irregular-looking galaxy full of star formation. (And indeed, my software does admit that NGC 4670 has very blue colors.)

I agree with bystander. I applaud your efforts, geckzilla, and avdhoeven's too.

Ann

[geckzilla]

Thanks for the tips, avdhoeven. I'll try to make sure I'm using ACS data next time.

Ann, you might be upset at just how finicky the blue channel is in many of these. It tends to be the noisiest, most ill-defined one of them all and is easily overwhelmed by the green and red. Compare blue with green. (Green is actually yellow but I've mapped it to green)

[avdhoeven]

Hi Geckzilla,

I also took NGC 3185 to see what's in the image. I think you will be able to get more out of it. What software do you use for processing? Maybe I can give you some help... Here is what I got out of it.... (just a quick and dirty approach )

[geckzilla]

Photoshop CS4

So there's ACS data for NGC 3185? I must not know how to find it.

[Ann]

Hi Geckzilla,

I also took NGC 3185 to see what's in the image. I think you will be able to get more out of it. What software do you use for processing? Maybe I can give you some help... Here is what I got out of it.... (just a quick and dirty approach )

Lovely, avdhoeven! Do you have a larger version of your picture?

Ann

[avdhoeven]

I didn't keep the file, so I don't have the larger version here now. I only used the same data as Geckzilla did before. No ACS data was used here (it doesn't exist for this galaxy). The trick is in using a proper ddp to stretch the image to its max.

[geckzilla]

Oh, well I think I have a different way of looking at it. While your quick and dirty one certainly is more eye catching simply because it is brighter, I don't like blowing out the details and increasing the background noise levels that much. You can see the little ring around the core in mine but in yours it's totally blown out. It's a compromise, either way. I have been brightening things selectively to avoid blowing bright parts out but I am definitely guilty of producing darker images even when I do my regular art and not this image processing stuff. I'll try to make future versions a bit brighter.

[avdhoeven]

Luckily we all look in a different way Else the results would be boring and all the same...

[geckzilla]

How about this? Brighter?

IRAS23436+5257

[avdhoeven]

Looks good!

[geckzilla]

I'm really annoyed because somehow I got confused and overwrote NGC3185 while editing that one... I wanted to try some things but now I'd have to do it over.

[geckzilla]

NGC3185 redo with tips from avdhoeven.

[geckzilla]

A star cluster called Lindsay 38. There's actually a very subtle lensed galaxy in the background around that brightest red background spot, too.

Lindsay 38

[Ann]

The IRAS galaxy looks good, geckzilla. It looks as if two galaxies are colliding and merging - I think I can see two nuclei.

Your portrait of NGC 3185 looks really good! There is a little ring around the nucleus. Many galaxies have them. But this ring isn't blue from fresh star formation, but yellow or white from old glories. By the way, look at that amazing S-shaped galaxy in the background!

The Lindsay 38 cluster looks very clear and crisp, and the background galaxies are interesting. The colors are slightly weird. My guess is that Hubble imaged this cluster through two filters, clear and infrared. That would explain why so many background galaxies look so red, and it would explain why practically all the stars in the cluster seem to be the same shade of blue, too.

Ann

[geckzilla]

Yes, it was only imaged in two channels. Not infrared, though. 814W (regular red light) and 555W (green, almost yellow). I presume the two are used mainly to discern foreground light from background light so I don't even bother trying to make them realistic. I just push the two far apart in a way I think looks nice.

[Ann]

If I'm not mistaken, 814W is infrared light.

Ann

[geckzilla]

Could be. I just use this chart: http://www.perret-optic.ch/optometrie/V ... etique.jpg
I noticed the other filters when they go to infrared have IR next to them and go to numbers 1xx (I forgot exactly which)

Anyway, I saw someone attempt this one but they left all the raw edges and didn't really combine and clean it up as much as I thought it deserved.

NGC 6872

[geckzilla]

Kinda small, kinda blurry... but I like these cloud structures around RNO 91 too much to not give it some quick love. There's actually some huge pieces missing because the two filters used only intersected in the middle, leaving a large portion only covered by one or the other.

RNO-91

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[geckzilla]

Does anyone know if this kind of thing is common or not? It seems to be a bunch of green stuff around a star. I don't know if I'm understanding it wrong or I'm inexperienced but it does seem weird to me. Why is it so green?

It's called PK208+33D1 but if you try to search the HLA for it it won't work. You have to use the advanced search and put 5404 in the proposal ID field.


R = hst_05404_01_wfpc2_f588n_pc
G = hst_05404_01_wfpc2_f502n_pc
B = hst_05404_01_wfpc2_f469n_pc