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Above the broad plane of our galaxy, lies great galactic wetlands- a faint veil of dust now called the Integrated Flux. And like it's terrestrial counterpart, most photographers who have seen it have also been draining this "dismal swamp" from their images and paving it over with fresh coat of blacktop. Discovered back in the sixties, its original maps became forgotten until Steve Mandel recognized its splendor as a vast, unexplored region. Now, he's an astro-conservationist who extols it's imaging preservation!
I'm as guilty as any, my recent image of NGC 1 and 2 had plenty but, like many, I mistook it for unwanted sky gradients and bulldozed it under. Steve contacted me and suggested I re-visit my original photo and restore it. Unfortunately, my revised (exaggerated) image above only does this small corner kangaroo-court justice, nonetheless, he graciously included the result during his talk at the San Jose 2005 Advanced Imaging Conference.
So, hug a tree, kiss a fish, touch a star and if you take deep space pictures: Save the Galactic Wetlands (Integrated Flux)!
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