Unveiling the Hidden Wonders of the Pleiades: A Triband Journey from Al Sadeem Observatory
_Hover to see RGB
_Five years ago, as a college sophomore with just a crop sensor camera, two filters (H-alpha and OIII), and a passion for the stars, I embarked on a journey into astrophotography. Despite initial skepticism about the viability of capturing the Pleiades (M45) in narrowband, I've now reached a point in my career where, as the Head Observatory Technician at Al Sadeem Observatory, I have the privilege of accessing state-of-the-art equipment and pristine dark skies.
This image of the Pleiades, also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters, represents a significant leap from my early days. It’s captured in Triband, combining narrowband wavelengths to reveal aspects of the cluster and its surrounding nebulosity often visible in traditional broadband images. This technique emphasizes the intricate details of the reflection nebulae embedded within the cluster, highlighting their ethereal glow against the tapestry of space.
Photometric Analysis:Here is the image with a luminance overlay. The overlay uses a 'viridis' colormap where yellow corresponds to higher luminance values and dark purple to lower values. This visualization gives an impression of how the brightness varies throughout the image, highlighting areas that are relatively brighter or darker within the context of the image.
The 3D Color Scatter Plot provides a visual representation of the spread of colors in the image. Each point represents a pixel's color, with its position in the space determined by the intensity of the red, green, and blue channels.
Here are the color histograms and the luminance histogram for the image:
- The Red Channel Histogram shows a distribution that peaks around the mid-tones, indicating a moderate presence of red hues.
- The Green Channel Histogram has a similar distribution to the red, with a peak also in the mid-tones but with a wider spread indicating more variation in green hues.
- The Blue Channel Histogram shows a bias towards the darker tones, suggesting that blue hues are more dominant in the darker areas of the image.
- The Luminance Histogram combines the three channels in a way that represents perceived brightness to the human eye. It shows a broad distribution with a peak in the mid-tones.
Through the use of (Ha) , (SII) and (OIII) channels, we have managed to tease out the intricate details of this nebula.
I'll leave you with the starless of it 
Data acquired by Mohamed Usama Ismail aka
URSAMO https://www.instagram.com/ursamo_astrophotography/Head Operator at
Al Sadeem Observatory UAE https://alsadeemastronomy.ae/ <Check out our amazing team here
THANKS FOR READING TILL HERE 
Comments