The elephant's trunk (IC1396)

[Space Oddities]

Here is my first SHO image! I'm very happy with the result  

Nights are short here in Nantes, but I still wanted a complete set of images. So this is just a stack of 20 Ha, 15 OIII and 15 SII, minus a few rejected subs, all 5 min long. About 3.5 hours of exposure in total. Plus a bunch of darks.

Gear used: William Optics RedCat 51, ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, with Baader SHO 7nm filters, riding on the RainbowAstro RST-135. Controlled via the ASIAIR Pro from the comfort of my bed!

I stacked everything in DSS, then edited the most part in PixInsight. I compensated the lack of integration time with the excellent NoiseXterminator plugin, and once again I'm amazed at how good this is.

The SHO combination was (I believe) R = 100% SII + 20% Ha, G = 100% Ha, B = 100% OIII + 20% Ha.

The final touch and color management was done in Lightroom on my iPad. I have to admit the color management is PixInsight still looks very obscure and not user friendly to me, but Lightroom makes an amazing job with selective color adjustments.

It's not perfect, and there's a weird halo on the Garnet star, but well, post-processing is where I have the most to learn!

Last night I imaged a few subs of SHO and RGB to add to this image. I plan to make a V2 with more integration time and better stars. Maybe create an HOO version too!

Critics and feedback welcome!

Pierre

[Space Oddities]

I made a quick HaRGB version, using the same process overall. Colors are just 5x3 min each, mixed with about 30x5 min Ha (3h45).

Those stars look better to me! I'll try to make a new SHO version without the stars, and reintegrate the RGB afterwards. I'm starting to understand how PixInsight works now