This object has always dogged me. I first photographed it in the late 1980's. I have produced several versions of it since then and I had not produced one that made me happy. This time I think I am happy.
Though it did take 19 hours or so to process the data.
It's composed of:
240 minutes of Luminance
90 minutes of red.
75 minutes of green.
75 minutes of blue
240 minutes of Ha
120 minutes of OIII
The Ha and OIII are added in small quantities as I often see images where I think those band passes seem to dominate the entire image. Indeed I have done this in the past myself. I wanted to aim for those band passes enhancing the LRGB image.
The colour is naturally processed from the RGB data. Though the addition of both the Ha and OIII did enhance the red/magenta and blue tones.
What I really love about this image is the smokey looking luminance within and around the main nebula. It gives a 3D look to image in my opinion. I also really like the dusty streaks across the brighter nebulosity through the field.
Click here for larger image.
I hope you enjoy the view as much as I enjoyed creating the image.
