M78 Reflection Nebula in LRGB

[Tommohawk]

Having retired recently I've a bit more time to spend on imaging, and over the last couple of months got quite a lot of data. Lovely..... except that with 572 lights Astropixel processor takes forever and seizes up.

I've found a workaround which is simply to create master calibration files first, and then load these masters with the lights, rather than trying to do it all in one go. Hope that makes sense - it processed in about 90 minutes I think which I can live with.

Did this over a couple of nights from home, and wasn't sure how it would work out - the ground rises to about 22 degrees south of me and the road now has LED streetlights. bit windy so had to discard a number of subs especially blue. Hey ho. Colours are a bit off I think, but the stars were tricky and some green and magenta crept in. No masking, just curves and adjustment and crop. TBH took forever to get to this point, and need to stop!

The next job has 1100 lights so could be a while before posting!

So - M78 is 1600 light years away, radius 5 light years, apparent mag 8.3

116 x  LUM @60secs, 197 x RED, 145 x GREEN, 115 x BLU all 30sec binned 2x2. ASI1600cool (-20C) with SW200PDS on HEQ5.

Thanks for looking - happy for comment/criticism as ever.