NGC6188 2nd attempt

[etill]

Here's another NGC6188 attempt. This time I got quite a bit more data, and also a lot longer subs. The wind was pretty bad last night and the guiding suffered - error was around 1.5 most of the night according to PHD, but I managed to do ok I think.

Full size here: https://www.astrobin.com/full/wczb9g/

Vixen R200 F/4
QHY10, Optolong L-Pro, Baader MPCC
44 x 300s and 36 x 180s subs @-10c (~5.5 hours)
Darks and flats (dark flat calibrated, no bias)

Processed in PI by extracting integrated stack to RGB channels, linear fit to the channel with the lowest noise (blue this time).
LRGB combination (no L) - extract L from that, delete the created image.
Noise reduction, morphological transform and deconvolution to L
LRGB combination (with L this time)
Automatic background extraction (normalized) + photometric color cailbration
Multiscale median transform for minor additional noise reduction
Masked stretch
HDR multiscale transform
Curves transform (probably pretty badly)

Most of the really good examples of this I've seen are narrowband with heaps more data, so I don't know if I'll continue with it with an OSC camera. There's a PN just nearby that I'd like to get into the shot so I might collect more data for a mosaic at some stage.

[PKay]

Hi Elliot

Your end result has 'converged' to a good result.

You obviously know that there are many ways of getting there (not only in PI).

By taking careful notes of each processing step, is it better or worse,
and saving off the steps that are better is the way to go.

This is a form of 'cumulative selection', and will give you the best path in
the least time.

Trial and error and not taking notes is 'random selection' and one will forever be lost.

Well done!