[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Originally Posted by codemonkey

Nice one Kevin! I can't see any signs of over-zealous noise reduction, doesn't have that blotchy look.

Thanks Lee. Noise reduction from memory was 3/10, so fairly light.

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

nice Kevin,

it is one i'd love to image but too far north - thanks for sharing - great colour and depth!

cheers

russ

Thanks Russ. Ah you miss some of the good stuff! I do need some more tree pruning yet though lol.

Originally Posted by Atmos

Very nice Kevin, not an easy target for us southerners!
Is the green channel a mix of Ha & OIII? Curious about the green core.

Even with the noise reduction it doesn’t look too blotchy, just smooth and not overly artificial.

Thanks Colin. Yes there is some Ha and OIII in the green channel, I think from my faulty memory. It started out as HOO but I'm not sure how it ended up as I took a few days to process it a little at a time. Sometimes I just have to step away for a while to regain perspective.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

I like the palette Kevin, normally we see this object with the traditional red blue combination but this also works well. The outer extensions are well defined and processed. I think the soft look might be coming from the apparent elongation of the stars in a diagonal direction. Or could this be tilt in your Newtonian? Holding the camera square to the secondary can be problematic. The RGB problem you mention might come from focus and perhaps the need for offsets. I have found with both my Newtonians I have to use offsets in all filters to manage focus and this is with Astrodon filters.

Thanks Paul. There are a few suspects what could make the elongated stars. They are not always there, so perhaps the scope loses collimation and / or focuser tilts at certain angles. Being a soft metal tube, that is on the cards. Andrew and Mike have similar scopes and they have reinforced around the focuser with good results. I might have to do the same.