Very quick Eta Ha Blend

[Hagar (Doug)]

Hi everyone. A very quick Eta Carinae.
5 X 5 minute RGB exposures with a Ha blend using 10 X 5 min Ha images captured using Baader 7nm Ha filter.
Final image = Ha Ha RGB Blended using PS CS3 and IP3.
Needs lots more exposure time but I an happy with the resolution upgrade using the Ha data.
Telescope : Takahashi FS 102 with Focal reducer
Camera: One shot colour QHY8 cooled CCD
Mount: G11
Guiding: QHY5 and ED80
Image cropped a little to the left hand side to center Eta Carinae.

[Rob_K]

Gotta be happy with that Doug, nice job! Lots of detail and good contrast with the dark lanes etc.

Cheers -

[mill (Martin)]

That is a very well done Eta Doug
15Min HA would make it perfect

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well Doug the Ha has given it that David Malin 1980's UK Schmidt unsharp mask look, nice

To me though it looks too monochrome orange-red..? I think there should be a little more of the blue and pinks (arrrg me and my blue ) to make it look natural. This is probably not easy with the Ha addition process using a one shot rather than a mono CCD..?

Nice work though.

Mike

[jase (Jason)]

This is good Doug. While not a huge amount of data, its enough to work with and would deliver such a result. I can see what Mike is indicating. You can play around for some time trying to get the right Ha blend to ensure you haven't lost the subtle blue/pink hues of the region. Personally, I find it easier to create a DDP stretch straight RGB, blended as colour in PS. Mask it so you can keep the Ha definition, but restore the subtle colour hues of the area. Keep an eye on the noise with the DDP stretch. You'll want to stretch it reasonably hard and give it some colour saturation to boot. There's not many functions that I use the paint brush in astro images (for ethical reasons), but this is one of them. If you want to push it to the next level, you can use a similar process, but process the layer to manage star colours. Plenty of options. Keep at it.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Thanks everyone for the comments.
Jase. I am unsure what you mean by a DDP stretch apposed to a normal levels and curves stretch and at what point. I have played with DDP in Images plus but am not excited by the results and prefer to process everything after the initial stacking in photoshop but I am open to suggestion.

[TrevorW]

Gee thats a nice image