Hi folks. I enjoyed the Xmas break and this is my final image before the working year commences ... I'll stop spamming you with images
. After seeing the JWT and Hubble images of the 'Cosmic Cliffs' in NGC3324, I felt compelled to make my own backyard-brewed version with an 8" SCT :-) I used shorter exposures and higher gain (120sec @ 240 gain) vs what I use on my refractor (5mins @ 120 gain) - I get better stars and lose less subs. I braved an attempt at a HOO image in PI using 6hrs 40mins of OSC dual NB data - it was a drawn out learning process. PI took about 3hrs to integrate 200 subs on a recent Intel MacBook Pro, APP took considerably less time. I had three attempts at producing the HOO image using different techniques/tools: 1) Bill Blanshard's pixelmath tools ... didn't like the end result (too yellow), 2) some very new tools/scripts from Jürgen Terpe (they're excellent - definitely keepers) ... very solid result but still didn't quite hit the mark, 3) the good ol Channel Combination tool using OIII and Ha masters produced in APP ... got the result I wanted (after much editing). Seems I need both PI and APP in some instances. I also tried a new freeware stand-alone gradient removal tool called GraXPert which produced excellent results but seems to introduce extra noise so I stuck with PI's ABE.
I added 1mm of additional backfocus (total now = 106.3mm) to correct distorted stars around the periphery of images. That seems to have mostly worked but will try an additional 1mm.
I've included a 1:1 of the 'Cosmic Cliffs' from my HOO image and the Hubble image of the same area. I reckon the SCT did a reasonable job
Btw, "Gabriela Mistral Nebula" is a strange name for a nebula! Thanks for looking. Alex
EdgeHD 8", 0.7 reducer
200 x 120s, 240 gain, Antlia dual NB, ASI294MC
D, F, DF. PI and PS