LRGB in the smoke - M42

[Benjamin]

Trying to see what I can get in pretty horrible conditions. Bushfire smoke has been pretty constant over Brisbane the last month and tonight the smell and intensity is rather alarming. M42 at least is bright and reasonably high. While narrowband would be far more sensible I've been very determined to refine LRGB acquisition and processing, more for galaxies but also for classic objects like M42 and the horsehead. I integrated all the various length subs for each filter in one fell swoop in Pixinsight, which created some quite interesting rejection maps and some added noise. Might have to revisit that process. Details on capture here: https://www.astrobin.com/axcwic/?nc=user
4.5 hours of mostly short subs taken with an ED80 doublet, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro (gain 76 and cooled to -15) and using Astrodon LRGB filters.

[gregbradley]

A delightful M42. Nicely done.

Greg.

[Benjamin]

Thanks Greg. I’ve tried to keep it pretty simple and direct to avoid any colour alteration (which is perhaps a little boring in a way) but hoping it’s reasonably true to form.

[multiweb]

Very nice details. Beautiful colors. :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Thanks Marc :-)

[Benjamin]

Finally got around to processing this as an HDR image and was happy with the results. Had two versions - one very pink/purple the other blue and red/pink with much more vivid dust. Is one better perhaps given what the colour should be for LRGB?
https://www.astrobin.com/full/axcwic/B/
https://www.astrobin.com/full/axcwic/C/

[multiweb]

C for me. :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Not content with two revisions....

https://www.astrobin.com/full/axcwic/F/

Thanks for you vote Marc! :D

[Rigel003]

These are all just beautiful. Well done.

[Benjamin]

Cheers Graeme. The LRGB captures I’m working on are geared to trying to capture what’s there (as a DSLR or OSC might get) rather than being too fancy with colour manipulations etc. A kind of natural beauty perhaps? Very glad you like them though :-)

[Sunfish]

Great image. Lots of detail and colour in the core and running man , particularly inclusion of the blues. A great example in thinking about what we would like to capture.

I note you have tailored the exposures to the bright object beautifully with lots of short exposures with a lower gain. I wondered also if you have used a different offset.

[Benjamin]

Thanks so much Ray. I set the offset in Sequence Generator Pro (via the ZWO profile in the camera connection area) to 15. I think this is what is recommended for this gain? It’s not very scientific and more based on hours of googling!!

[Sunfish]

Thanks Benjamin , very informative. Perhaps considering the object and image result rather than a standard calculated approach works .

[Nikolas]

Each and every version is a great piece of work! Considering the conditions up Nrth, we have our own problems namely cloud cover that is persistent down south.

[Benjamin]

Clouds/smoke/storms... last summer was much the same minus the smoke. I get the feeling that this is just the norm for the time being. Get some shots when you can or head to the hills :-) Thanks for the nice comments Nik :-)