Matariki for 2023 (Brian Boyle)

Matariki for 2023

One of the greatest privileges I have had , either as a professional astronomer or now (very) amateur astrophotographer, was to give a number of astronomy presentations as part of the Matariki celebrations in NZ in July this year. This was the first year that the Maori New Year (the rise of Matariki/Pleiades/Subaru) was recognised by a public holiday and the celebration of Maori culture associated with it was a great success for the country.

Around Queenstown, my previous image of Matariki was used in a number of places, which was a great honour for me.

As a result, I resolved to do an image of Matariki for each new year. This my first attempt at an image for the 2023 Matariki celebrations, freely available to anyone who wishes to use it for such.

This year, I wanted to bring out the detail - including the Baby Eagle Nebula - in the molecular cloud complex surrounding Matariki, as well as emphasising the great blue in the reflection nebula. As a result I may have set the black point too low, losing a little of the contrast. But I find this is a tricky area to get the stretch right, given all the amazing detail as faint levels. But, since Matariki barely rises about 20 degrees from my location, I am happy with anything I can get.

Any comments and suggestions for improvement gratefully received.

Another image which also rewards a starless approach, which I have also included as Version B

Original
B
C
Final
D

B

Description: Starless version

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: A re-processing of my Matariki for 2023. I need to make Matariki stand out more for public display, so I dialled up the contrast and colour. What works for the Arrowtown display may not, of course, work for Astrobin.

Uploaded: ...

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7098699
PixInsight job	ZJ35E1II3X9331G1DVBNZMPKRC69TJFR
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	03h47m05s.29
RA (top/left)	04h06m05s.31
RA (top/right)	03h24m39s.30
RA (bottom/right)	03h29m08s.36
RA (bottom/left)	04h08m40s.56

Dec (center)	+24°07′55″.5
Dec (top/left)	+27°45′08″.4
Dec (top/right)	+26°30′12″.6
Dec (bottom/right)	+20°22′45″.4
Dec (bottom/left)	+21°34′18″.2

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