Squid Nebula

[Snoani]

I recently picked up a cheap second hand Oiii filter to add to my existing LRGB HA filter setup and in my usual fashion I decided to attempt the ambitious.  I present the Squid Nebula and Flying Bat Nebula.  

In total I took 30 hours of Oiii data and discard 6 hours of the worst subs.  The Ha data is made up of over 16 hours.

As this is my first attempt at capturing an HOO image, it is also my first attempt to process one, and while I am happy with the result I know that it can be processed better, so it may be one that I return to in the future. 

Equipment used is  ASI 1600MM Pro, William Optics GT81, HEQ5, Asiair Plus, ZWO 7nm Ha Filter and Baader 6.5nm Oiii filter.  

Thanks for looking.  

[geeklee]

12 minutes ago, Snoani said:

As this is my first attempt at capturing an HOO image, it is also my first attempt to process one, and while I am happy with the result I know that it can be processed better, so it may be one that I return to in the future. 

Fantastic job - it is very difficult to balance the squid against the Ha in a natural way.  

[carastro]

Excellent, especially for a first try.  You must have some nice dark skies.  I tried this from a Bortle 4 location and got little after several hours.  Since I have to travel to Bortle 4 sites I don't get much time on each target.  

 

Carole 

[Snoani]

On 27/11/2022 at 16:06, carastro said:

Excellent, especially for a first try.  You must have some nice dark skies.  I tried this from a Bortle 4 location and got little after several hours.  Since I have to travel to Bortle 4 sites I don't get much time on each target.  

 

Carole 

Thank you for your kind words.  If I look at a light pollution map, we are classed as having Bortle 4 skies, but I suspect that they may be between 3-4.  Skies to my south are good, with 1 mile of village before the English Channel, but to the north I have Portsmouth and Southampton, which do give a significant gradient below 30-40 degrees.  So you may have been ok if you could have put the time in, but as you say that is a commodity when you have to travel.  

[tomato]

Now that’s a really bright Squid! Great work.👍

[ollypenrice]

Good strong squid. Really bold.

I think the colour might have more to give. My guess, if you have Photoshop, would be to try Selective Colour. In the reds I'd lower the cyan (a well-known trick for enhancing Ha.)  In the cyans, and this is a guess, I'd increase the magenta and lower the yellow.

Anyway, a difficult target done well.

Olly

[MonsterMagnet]

That's a superb job and a great nebula to image!

MM