Tarantula L-Extreme and Asiair Pro first light

[Nikolas]

The L-extreme lives up to the hype.
I processed this in APP and Photoshop using HA 03 combination, the amount of both in this nebula surprised me, the filter really brought it out.

ASIAIR pro is a step up from the original in terms of speed of transfer and the combined dew straps but the original is just as good.

41x 300 secs in bortle 6 skies Melbourne. asi 294MC

[xa-coupe]

Wow! I have been collecting data on tarantula, but with a svbony light pollution filter ... and I am quite sure it will not turn out as great as this.
I do have an L-extreme on it's way from China .. via the slowest boat they could find apparently.

I'm going to guess that I will be reacquiring all the data after looking at this.

[Nikolas]

Thanks Jeff, I was surprised how much nebulosity this filter picks up in the HA channels.

[JA]

Great image Nik. I especially like the somewhat ghostly vibe and colour.

Best
JA

[Nikolas]

Cheers JA I wanted the colours to be a little muted as it adds to the ethereal quality of the target.

[jahnpahwa]

Thats such a rich, full to the brim field! Very cool. I'm sure the filter is fantastic, but also want to give large a high-five for your skills in getting the data and processing it :)

[Astronut07]

Nik

Absolutely fantastic image mate!
Well done
I’m heading out to our dark site tonight, looks like I know what I’ll be imaging;)

Cheers
Ben

[Nikolas]

Thanks JP I am surprised at how it turned out, the conditions were pretty good last night, everything just worked



Thanks Ben have a great night would love to get to a dark site now that we are allowed out of our areas but work gets in the way.

[RyanJones]

Very very nice Nik. Capturing the extra nebulosity has filled the field perfectly and made a really complete image. Well done 👍

[Nikolas]

Thanks Ryan it was just a great night for imaging last night and that new filter really makes it complete.

[gregbradley]

That's a terrific image Nik.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah that's pretty good Nik, plenty of fine detail, it's different...but looks cool :thumbsup:. Such a dynamic interesting region of sky that.

Mike

[Nikolas]

Hey Mike
I'm not sure if it's the filter that makes it "different" It's a first light for me and only the second time I've imaged this. I processed it by extracting Ha and 03 then combined them in APP processed them in photoshop. This is the result of the processing with APP

[Nikolas]

Thanks Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Ok cool, it a great result :thumbsup:

Mike

[AdamJL]

Beyond beautiful. What a cracking image!



Would you be so kind as to explain this to a novice please, Nik?

[Nikolas]

Hi Adam

I use Astropixel processor.
It allows me to combine my images and also to split the channels when stacking.
The L-extreme filter only allows a narrow band of light from Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen 3
When using APP I stack them using the channels HA then the channels O3 in the stacking setup.
Then I combine the 2 channels using RGB combine HA being red and O3 in the green and Blue channels, Tweak it, play around save it then process it in Photshop.
In the meantime the HA channel is also used as a luminance layer which brings out the finer details in photoshop.
This processing alone took 2 hours of tweaking to get right as I'm fussy.

[Max Vondel]

Nice image and inspires me to investigate that new filter

[codemonkey]

That's awesome Nik, I really love the palette.

[Nikolas]

Cheers Lee I think it's fairly balanced and the L-Extreme really brings out the H-Alpha channels.

[AdamJL]

Hi Nik

Thanks for explaining! This is very much beyond my skills currently, but it's a good ceiling to aim for.
I tried to shoot this nebula tonight in Sydney. Not very good results as I only shot 60 seconds at ISO 800. I got the core of the main nebula but it's so far below your image it's not worth it :lol:

I mean, check this out.. compare yours to mine, haha.
Oh well, this is a long term hobby, there's loads to learn. Every mistake is an opportunity to get better!

(edit: time to have a look at that filter too, btw!!)

[Nikolas]

Where is your image mate? I'd still like to check it out

[Nikolas]

Thanks MAx. You won't regret it.

[multiweb]

That's excellent. Really like the colors and details. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[xa-coupe]

I've finally got my L-Extreme ... and had one session with it (whilst sorting out back spacing) and the result sucks compared to this. Knowing it can do images like this keeps me going !!

[Nikolas]

Thanks mate it's a labour of love





Keep working on the processing, the acquisition is just the beginning. It's taken me 2 years to get to this level and there is so much more work to go.

[Robert_T]

Nik I've been gathering a lot of data on this with the L extreme on two OSC's the asi533 and 071; it's clear to me that it's more your skilled processing than the filter in play though perhaps the filter makes it possible... any guidance or links to how Ha and O3 can be extracted... I currently just use DSS and Photoshop... but have been thinking on a more dedicated tool.

[Nikolas]

Hey Robert
I use Astropixel Processor to stack and separate the Ha and O3 channels, then recombine them using the HOO in the RGB combine in astropixel processor. Ha for red O3 for green and blue, you can then adjust the nuances of the different colours, then run a light pollution routine before saving it as a 32 bit tiff and processing on photoshop. The photoshop process takes longer with layer masks etc to bring out the final details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lki-TfkrlQ&t for further help and there are a few others there as well.

[tornado33]

Great shot. I love that L Extreme filter, if they made a clip in version for the EOS R mirrorless cams Id get one in a heartbeat, as then Id be able to off axis guide with full spectrum starlight ahead of the filter

[Geoff45]

That is spectacular Nik!

[ChrisV]

Really nice Nik! My l-extreme filter is sitting there languishing in a cold, unappealing box waiting for the clouds to go away...

[Nikolas]

Thanks Geoff it took a while to process the final image, a labour of love.





I know how you feel it's been a month since I've used my scope again with the filter, got a good Orion but because of poor spacing (57mm instead of 55mm for my 0.6 reducer I had elongated outer stars consistent with too long backfocus my fault






Wonder if there was a way of adding a filter drawer in between