North America Nebula HaRGB 21st & 22nd July 14

[theo]

With the decent UK weather recently I've managed a few nights under the stars to image this section of the North Amerca Nebula. This image is an HaRGB of around 5hrs total integration time. As a newby to narrowband I'm really enjoying the experience of imaging with the new camera along with the Ha filter. I've also just taken delivery of an O3 and SII to compliment the Ha so hopefully if the weather holds I can have a go at a Hubble Palette image which has been on my list of things to do for quite a while!!

Pete

[PhotoGav]

Lovely image, well done. What were the sub exposures?

We will have to make a QSI683 Newby Group! What a great camera it is and how great has it been to have some beautiful clear skies just recently to play with our new toys.

Looks like a nice scope too, great field of view.

Are those added star spikes???!!!????

[theo]

Hi Gav,

Thanks or the comment.

The subs were Ha @ 450 seconds and RGB @ 180 seconds bin2x2.

I will go substantially longer on my next targets I think but for now i'm happy with this. Oh and the spikes are added of course!! (I do like them on certain targets and realise they are not to everyones liking but then we all like different things at the end of the day).

Regards,

Pete

[PhotoGav]

That's excellent for short subs. How did you go about processing the data, as in what went where colour channel / luminosity layer wise?

Great website by the way.

[theo]

Thanks Gav.

Processing wise this is carried out in Maxim and Photoshop CS3 and the mapping is just straight RGB with Ha as the luminance. I did take a series of subs with the standard L filter but found it difiicult to get the image not to look completely dominated by stars and that's not a look that I like that much to be honest. Glad you like the website!!

Regards,

Pete

[JulianFR]

Very nice... Great Pelican as well.

[x6gas]

That's a great image and an awesome field of view - congratulations!

Wait til you get that full set of narrowband filters and you'll have a whole other lease of life!

Great though this image is you might also like to try adding the Ha to the red channel using blend mode lighten which gives a different feel.

[PhotoGav]

Perfect, thank you. I'll have to give that a go on something soon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[swag72]

That's looking very nice - A vert natural looking colour - Well done!

[theo]

Thanks guys.

On reflection I think this does actually have an Ha element added to the R channel with blend mode lighten (I processed several different permutations into the early hours!!!) so I apologise for the above incorrect info.

Pete

[Space Cowboy]

Glorious image Pete! The new cam is looking good!

[theo]

Hey Stuart...many thanks!!

This is the first time i've seen you here on the deep sky section..are you tempted to give it a try!! :-)

Pete

[Space Cowboy]

I've been here before Pete but not very often lol  I can see myself going down this route in the near future for sure and these kind of images are an inspiration especially during the summer when there are no Planets about.

[Steve 1962]

I really like the natural look of your image Pete - very subtle. Great job.

Steve

[theo]

Thanks Steve...i'm glad you like it!!

Pete