The Cave Nebula, Sh2-155

[lux eterna]

Hi all,

This one is a composite from two of my telescopes :

    TS APO with reducer = FL 550mm F5.1 iso 800 : 13x20 min Ha + 6x20 min OIII
    TS Imaging Star 71  = FL 350mm F5    iso 200 : 82x3 min RGB (only Hutech IDAS LPS-D1 used)

I am new to NB processing, so I followed this tutorial but also improvised some.
Weather did not permit more OIII data, so I squeezed as much as I could out of it. To start with, I only used the green channel from those subs because that channel had the strongest signal.
Filters are Astronomik 2" 12nm. Today I would have used iso 200 even for the NB pics, not 800, since I just learned that 200 is the optimal setting for my (dual) Nikon D7000´s.
The small APO was attached to the HEQ5 Pro CW bar so imaging was done with both scopes simultaneously. 3 minutes exposures is max for the secondary camera due to some remaining flex in that part of the rig which I have not (yet) managed to cancel out.  
Stars removed with Straton, then the Ha/OIII image and the wide field RGB image were aligned with Registar and blended together in PS.
All C&C is most welcome.

CS
Ragnar

[Zakalwe]

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Lovely subtle processing without the garish saturation and colours that many seem to employ now (Pixinsight, I'm looking at you).

[lux eterna]

1 hour ago, Zakalwe said:

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Lovely subtle processing without the garish saturation and colours that many seem to employ now (Pixinsight, I'm looking at you).

Thank you Zakalwe, glad you like it !

Ragnar

[Xiga]

Very nice indeed Ragnar ?

Would you mind posting your starless image as well please? I'm curious how good Straton is at this. I currently just use of of Annie's actions, but if I like Straton's results I might give it a go

[lux eterna]

1 hour ago, Xiga said:

Very nice indeed Ragnar ?

Would you mind posting your starless image as well please? I'm curious how good Straton is at this. I currently just use of of Annie's actions, but if I like Straton's results I might give it a go

Thanks Ciarán ! Straton is adjustable to remove more stars or preserve more nebula with a slider. Sometimes I have used 2-3 different settings and combined them selectively, but I always end up with the Spot Healing Brush for final touch. I have found out that the last step can benefit from brush type="proximity match" or "content aware" depending on type of structures in the nebula.

This starless version is far from the final stages, so colours etc are not the same. Here goes :

Ragnar

 

[MikeODay]

Very nice image Ragnar.

[lux eterna]

15 hours ago, MikeODay said:

Very nice image Ragnar.

Thank you Mike !

Ragnar

[swag72]

Nice colours - What a great image

[lux eterna]

24 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Nice colours - What a great image

Thank you Sara, I´m glad you like it !

Ragnar

[ollypenrice]

I'm with Zakalwe regarding the gentle look you've achieved. This is a lovely image.

Olly

[lux eterna]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I'm with Zakalwe regarding the gentle look you've achieved. This is a lovely image.

Olly

I am happy to hear that, thanks Olly !

Ragnar

[gorann]

Fantastiskt Ragnar!

The subtle colours reminds me of an old oil painting from one of the grand masters.

[lux eterna]

4 hours ago, gorann said:

Fantastiskt Ragnar!

The subtle colours reminds me of an old oil painting from one of the grand masters.

Tack Göran !

I like the grand masters comparision

Ragnar