Thor's Helmet in Ha

[Maurice]

Hello all

Attached is a Ha only image of NGC2359 taken over the past couple of weeks. 8hrs total exposure time in 10 & 20min subs. Seeing was variable and between about 2" and 2.8". An out of focus guide star played havoc during some of the exposures, resulting in only average guiding, but once corrected all was good.

Taken at prime focus of a GSO RC14 @ 2830mm. QHY9M camera @ -20C binned 2x2. Baader Ha filer & ZWO 1200MM guide camera with OAG + EQ8

Not sure how to really handle the processing of this one... the whole area seems to be full of Ha and if the image is stretched further it shows more nebulosity, but looks quite flat once the highlights are tamed..? Any advice appreciated..

cheers
Maurice

[glend (Glen)]

It is much larger in narrowband with extensive tendrilles and clouds. Get the Oiii and Sii going. I think you have enough Ha already.

[Atmos (Colin)]

It's looking really nice so far. Adding more data will make it easier to bring up those faint areas, all I can think of is when trying to bring up the background (dynamic range compression), masking the bright areas can help, you may have done that already.
Otherwise increasing the top end of the histogram and making the bright areas brighter will make it appear more dynamic.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Lots of nice detail there Maurice. If you are using PixInsight you could try LocalHistogramEqualization to increase the contrast. There's also the good old s-curve in Curves.
Geoff

[Paul Haese]

Excellent detail Maurice. I have considered using a 8300 sensor on my RC12 several times in the last few years but never really thought it would work well. Binning clearly provides a solution.

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by glend

It is much larger in narrowband with extensive tendrilles and clouds. Get the Oiii and Sii going. I think you have enough Ha already.

Thanks Glen. Oiii & Sii are now in & I've managed to get some data in Oiii.

Originally Posted by Atmos

It's looking really nice so far. Adding more data will make it easier to bring up those faint areas, all I can think of is when trying to bring up the background (dynamic range compression), masking the bright areas can help, you may have done that already.
Otherwise increasing the top end of the histogram and making the bright areas brighter will make it appear more dynamic.

Cheers Colin. I had tried that, but the whole thing still looked rather flat. I have since added some Oiii and put together a bi-colour image which seems to have improved things.

Originally Posted by Geoff45

Lots of nice detail there Maurice. If you are using PixInsight you could try LocalHistogramEqualization to increase the contrast. There's also the good old s-curve in Curves.
Geoff

Thankyou Geoff. PixInsight is now on the shopping list

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Excellent detail Maurice. I have considered using a 8300 sensor on my RC12 several times in the last few years but never really thought it would work well. Binning clearly provides a solution.

Thanks Paul. The only thing I feel I need is more chip realestate at 2800mm+ FL...