NGC6559 Vivid Banana

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Hi folks. This is my 4th mono (Ha)LRGB image - lots to learn. In addition to the technical aspects of processing and editing mono data, the biggest difference is the time it takes to produce an image - collecting data and producing an image is now a dedicated project (which is quite enjoyable). I produced a version of this image with less visible stars however I preferred this one as it preserved the sense of dense stars fields in the area.

EdgeHD 8" with 0.7 R, ASI294MM, Antlia LRGB, Optolong Ha
Shot across 3 nights - 11hrs 36mins total
L: 26 x 180s; 15 x 300s
R: 30 x 180s
G: 30 x 180s
B: 30 x 180s
Ha: 91 x 180s
Stacked and edited in PI, finished in PS.

Higher-res version here. Any feedback gratefully received. Thanks for looking. Alex

[Dave882 (David)]

Wow that’s great Alex. Just opened the full res version and the vivid colour and detail is fantastic. The stars and star colours are great and I think you’ve made the right choice to keep them there. Maybe some coma in the corners but only if you’re pixel-peeping! Did you use BlurEx to do star reduction/correction? seems you’re getting quite proficient at the PI basics well done!!

[petershah (Peter Shah)]

Thats beautiful Alex

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Dave and Peter.

Dave, PI is a beast but I am def getting a hang of its basic tools. I do use StarX, BlurX and NoiseX but not always - a bit of trial and error to see what's working for the image at hand. For this image, the best stars came from plain RGB data (not LRGB, which I've been using) and I gave them a tweak with BlurX after arcsinhstretch-ing. I tried the new star reduction tools from BB but didn't like the result. I reckon you're correct about the coma and I too have seen it in recent my images but haven't had the time to see if I require slightly more backfocus ... bring on the Xmas hols Alex

[gregbradley]

Fantastic detail and contrast.

I don't quite understand it due to the background being so dark. This object usually is showing lots of Ha in the background with the "feet" being highlights. Did you suppress the red in the background?

Greg.

[Addos (Adam)]

thats pretty good! very nice target this one and you got some nice detail from that nice scope! Colour balance is very nice! Only feedback I could offer is not to go so hard on the background extraction, let that Ha glow shine through!!

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Greg and Adam. As a relative newbie, never underestimate my ability to confuse the more experienced folk with my simplistic image editing attempts In this instance I used the Ha as additional luminance to enhance the detail but I'm aware there are better ways to integrate Ha with an (L)RGB image, I just haven't tried them yet. The Ha, by itself, provides a lot more background than I've managed to incorporate with my simple imaging editing techniques. Do either of you have a preferred technique for integrating Ha into an LRGB image? Alex