B33 colour plan

[Benjamin]

Have yet to get sufficient S2 and O3 so hanging off from the Astrobin upload but wondered how folks felt about this still very noisy colour scheme? It combines a bit over an hour of S2 and even less O3 with the previous 3.5 hours of Ha. Rainbow Unicorn comes to mind...

[Peter Ward]

I have to ask, why narrow band?

This region has natural, stunning and surprising colours (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery339.html) that don't simply don't need NB IMHO.

While rich in H-alpha, I also suspect here is zippo OIII and SII, hence I think you may do better with Ha-RGB....there are many absorption, reflection and
emission zones to be discovered ;)

[Benjamin]

Hey Peter, more a case of fighting off light pollution (7km from town) and, presently, the moon. Narrowband seemed a good option. Not much chance to get to a dark site for a while to get decent RGB and working a lot of evenings soon so limited with time to image. I agree, the natural colours are beaut! Hopefully will do RGB in the new year :-)

The S2 is very strong (even with a 3nm filter) but O3 seems like it might be very limited (took the subs I had in quite a hazy moon-lit night).

[Geoff45]

There are some objects which are so well-known that something non-traditional is really up against the odds. Someone posted a narrowband Trifid image a while back and the consensus seemed to be that it just didn’t work.
Geoff

[Benjamin]

Yep! I haven’t really seen a narrowband Horsehead that’s seemed right somehow. A purple and orange version caught my eye and also something along more colourful lines (this is my attempt at that). I think I’m being a bit contrary too as I’ve seen rather a lot of wonderful HaRGB horseheads and figured it’d be nice to do something different. But, as you and Peter say, why mess with what is already quite wonderful. Might come down to a huge stack of 15s RGB subs to cope with the sky and keep star colour etc.

[Andy01]

Hi Ben,
Being devils advocate here- there’s plenty of Nb data in differing wavelengths to be found here & enjoyed.
My NB take on this region a while back is HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/236484/D/?image_list_page=2&nc=&nce=) for your reference.
Maybe that’s helpful? :D
Cheers
Andy

[Benjamin]

:thanx:

Wow! Love it! That’s along the lines of the purple/blue and orange versions I’ve been attracted to. Perhaps also limiting the field of view a little might help or orienting the object differently? Alnitak is so nice and contained :eyepop:

[Andy01]

:)It’s also worth considering that the Horsehead competes visually for attention with the flame, usually creating a classic but ultimately unbalanced composition, which has multiple focal points when seen together.
In my image, I cropped out the Horsehead, to draw attention to the flame.
Some choose the opposite path, and focus solely on B33.
Just because the majority compose this object the same way doesn’t mean that’s the way it always has to be seen. (The same could be said for M42...)
My 2c worth, I’ll hop off my soapbox & look forward to your finished image :)

[Peter Ward]

Fair enough...I too struggle with LP...but don't let it stop you.

Many excellent tools are available now (e.g. Pixinsight's Backgoundmodelization) to deal with gradients etc.

I was not aware there was any SII signal to be found there...might make an interesting Ha-SII-RGB :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

I live in the most danged-terrible LP area known to humanity and I still image Ha-LRGB (OSC) - as Peter mentioned, PI removes 99.9% of the problem.

I do NOT use a single LP reduction filter either (not counting the Ha filter :lol:). My MINIMUM exposure length I do is 10 minutes per sub.

I make the most of what I have, and do NOT travel anywhere further than my side-yard to image (if I take a 1 sec exposure at night with my DSLR it is red). I know my images might improve a LOT if I did, but I have no desire to go out bush any more - minimum 1 Hr from Canberra.

[Benjamin]

Brilliant! I’m probably being a bit overly fussy about the RGB capture and I’m definitely on the learning curve with PI. In regard to sub length I tend to go by a table published on Cloudy Nights that suggests various sub lengths for my camera (ASI1600) for various levels of LP -https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/573886-sub-exposure-tables-for-asi-1600-and-maybe-qhy163/
Oddly I love traveling to dark sites (only 1.25 hours away) just my musical duties prevent me: everybody wants to celebrate XMas :rolleyes:

[Benjamin]

Got about 3 hours of O3 but had terrible reflections from the sensor I believe (Altinak was surrounded by little circles) which seems to be a common problem with OIII and the ASI1600. Seemed to integrate reasonably with the Ha. Still waiting on more S2 but might have found a bit of a compromise with colour. It’s still a SHO image but with lots of curves transformation it suggests the original which might alleviate the queasy feeling of seeing lots of green? Still experimenting...