Elephant Trunk in HA - an old favourite!

[RichLD]

I know, I must have imaged this half a dozen times already, however this is my first NB DSO capture in over a year so thought I'd post it anyway. I've held the stars back quite a lot on this version and I quite like the emphasis it puts on the nebula.

Taken with my dual rig - 2 x Nikkor ED180 @ around f/3.46 (52mm aperture with step down rings), QHY9 10 x 900s, QHY163 15 x 600s, 7nm Baader HA. 

Darks, flats and bias applied, QHY9 subs resized in Registar to match QHY163, processed in PI (Linear Fit integration) and finished using a combination of Straton for a starless layer and PS.

Ahh, that feels better! I really miss my AP ?

[Demonperformer]

Very nice. I really like this target in just Ha. And it's nice to see the entire nebula.

[laser_jock99]

18 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

And it's nice to see the entire nebula.

Yes- it's a BIG one. Most of my efforts only cover a small portion!

[lux eterna]

A very nice and clean portrait of the trunk. Just the right balance of stars / starless, it works great. I often use Straton (and also Registar) myself, but for me it usually leaves a lot of cleaning up for me to do in PS.

Ragnar

[RichLD]

22 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Very nice. I really like this target in just Ha. And it's nice to see the entire nebula.

Thank you DP, I don't tend to go narrower than  2.0° x 1.5° these days, generally sticking to around  6.0° x 4.5° as shown in this image. I like the relative ease of widefield AP and the context it gives ?

1 minute ago, lux eterna said:

A very nice and clean portrait of the trunk. Just the right balance of stars / starless, it works great. I often use Straton (and also Registar) myself, but for me it usually leaves a lot of cleaning up for me to do in PS.

Ragnar

Thank you Ragnar - yes, I find Straton to be quite hit and miss myself (it definitely needs very good SNR), however when it works well it's unbeatable. 

I just noticed that I didn't do a final crop of my image - there are stacking artefacts at the bottom of the rame, DOH! ?