NGC6823 and NGC6820

[ampleamp]

Possibly a distant cousin of The Eagle Nebula with its long pillars of gas and dust, NGC 6820 is an emission nebula that surrounds open cluster NGC 6823 near M27, the Dumbbell Nebula.

This was taken in mid July at ICA, Spain in collaboration with @Petergoodhew using his 1200mm APM 152 and QSI6120. It consists of 14 x 5min Blue, 19 x 5 min Green, 22 x 5min Red and 24 x 15min Ha all unguided.

I have put up both Ha and HaRGB. I am reasonably pleased with the Ha, but please tell me if i can improve. The HaRGB..........., I can't make up my mind whether i really like it or really hate it; its certainly not what i intended with this sepia effect. Others can be the judge on that ;-)

Thanks for looking

 

 

[Allinthehead]

I like them both. The rgb does look a bit pale but fantastic detail in both. How did you combine the ha to the rgb?

[ampleamp]

I used Ha as a luminance and then lrgb combine in Pixinsight. It was at this stage that the dominant red  of rgb washed out. I am still undecided on this but like most images we invest plenty time in acquisition and processing. For me that means I sometimes don't see things anymore. 

Thanks for comment 

 

[Allinthehead]

That's the problem with ha as a luminance layer. It leads to reds becoming pale pink. I use PS so i can't help you out with this. If you don't get some feedback here try posting in the processing tips section.

[ollypenrice]

The structure is superb but, in reality, this is a fairly red nebula typical of Ha dominated emission objects. I've no idea what PI does with Ha but, as Allinthehead points out, using Ha as luminance brings a number of problems. The main thing is that luminance is made of the full visible spectrum and Ha is deep red, so lighting the whole image in deep red can't be right. (PI is always telling us how true it is to the data! Tut tut, PI... ) Personally I like to add it to red in Photoshop's blend mode lighten.

Whatever, the framing and resolution are super.

Olly

[ampleamp]

Thanks for the comments. A little investigation and I have found a script called NBRGBCombination, so I will be trying that sometime soon. Hopefully it will handle Ha a lot better than my use of L. It's all learning. ?

[ampleamp]

First go at this new tool - at least i have colour again 

[coatesg]

Lovely detail - the NBLRGB script is the way forward - it allows you the blend the HA into both Red (and a little in blue), and also into the L channel. In PS, using the lighten mode to blend works in this way. I'm sure there will be others with more experience of using this!!