Heart Nebula: OSC, Bortle 8, SHO using Askar D1 D2 filters

[Lee_P]

Hi all, presenting my latest image! This is unusual because it was taken using Askar's new D1 D2 filters. These are targetted at OSC imagers, and allow for SHO imaging. More image details are below. Extra info about the image is on my website here, and click here for a review of the Askar D1 D2 filters.

 

 

* December 2022
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8 )
* Telescope: Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Filter: Askar Colour Magic D1 and D2
* Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO
* Guide: William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ RotoLock; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Control: ASIAIR Plus
* Software: PixInsight, Lightroom
* D1: 360 x 120 seconds (12 hours) | D2: 360 x 120 seconds (12 hours)

Total integration time: 24 hours

By Lee Pullen

[powerlord]

Looking good Lee. Nice detail in the ostrich.

I got a D2 yesterday to pair with my L-ultimate. Not tried it yet. How did you treat the Oiii ?

Though I see little actual visible benefit over just using the Green channel, I've been integrating the green and blue channels from my L-ultimate data to give my Oiii.

So my plan was to do the same, but now integrate the 4 channels I'll caputre (G/B from L-ultimate, G/B from D2) into one Oiii stack. Are you doing the same ?

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

That is soooo good, wonderful detail and colour.

Steve

[Lee_P]

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

So my plan was to do the same, but now integrate the 4 channels I'll caputre (G/B from L-ultimate, G/B from D2) into one Oiii stack. Are you doing the same ?

Yes, that's exactly what I did. The process feels a bit convoluted but I can't deny that it gave me colours I struggle to obtain with pseudo-SHO processing.

[powerlord]

Definately glad I can have a go after seeing your results here. And it only takes a few mins to do. I get the feeling that  shooting Sii, might end up with me taking more Oiii overall than I'd do usually too - so you get the benefit of that too - when before you'd feel you had enough Ha, and 'were not getting your money worth' out your imaging time to shoot more Ha/Oiii data. But maybe that's just me.

Are you using a filter wheel or manual changing just now ? It was the main reason I build by StuEFW thing - so I can do this (and RGB for stars) all automatically without  it costing me a fortune in 2" ZWO EFWs.

stu

p.s. worth imaging some RGB stars to just finish that piccy off ? Definately worth it I think ?

Edited January 6, 2023 by powerlord

[Lee_P]

24 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Definately glad I can have a go after seeing your results here. And it only takes a few mins to do. I get the feeling that  shooting Sii, might end up with me taking more Oiii overall than I'd do usually too - so you get the benefit of that too - when before you'd feel you had enough Ha, and 'were not getting your money worth' out your imaging time to shoot more Ha/Oiii data. But maybe that's just me.

I know what you mean. The Ha is still dominant though, and I needed to give the D2 data a boost via curves adjustment so it wouldn't be overpowered. 

The OIII does seem stronger. But what would the OIII level be like if the integration time weren't split across two filters, but was instead ploughed into a single 3nm Ha/OIII filter like the L-Ultimate?

I think that combining L-Ultimate with D2 data could be a good way forward, as you're going to try. Askar have a 3nm D1 filter (but not D2). They say they've got some in stock so are sending me one in the coming weeks to test. I'll put it head-to-head with the L-Ultimate.

30 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Are you using a filter wheel or manual changing just now ? It was the main reason I build by StuEFW thing - so I can do this (and RGB for stars) all automatically without  it costing me a fortune in 2" ZWO EFWs.

Just a filter holder. Only takes a minute to swap them around. Considering I image for many nights on a single target, filter swapping isn't a hassle at all. It's not like I've got a seven-filter mono setup.

32 minutes ago, powerlord said:

p.s. worth imaging some RGB stars to just finish that piccy off ? Definately worth it I think ?

You know what, I've never actually added RGB stars to a narrowband image. The lack of star colours has never bothered me -- but deep down I know as soon as I do it once I'll need to do it for every future image! How much integration time do you think I'd need for decent RGB stars?

[powerlord]

You need hardly any for stars - if you look at the tadpoles ones I posted this week, I only had 8 minutes and they came out good.

and it's easy now with stuff like starXterminator, you just run it on your NB run it on your stars, and then get the stars themselves back however you do that with your edit software (affinity photo for me so its just a subtract later on starless onto of original, merge as new layer - gives you stars) - then you can add or screen them onto the starless.

I've found it really makes a difference, especially in HSO palette, maybe less so in HSO.

Like you I put it off, but mainly because I shoot during the night from my bed, so it would have meant getting up to remove filter which wasn't gonna happen, and doing it later on when I was shooting filterless usually meant I'd moved the camera orientation in the meantime and again it was a pain.

With the wheel now, I'm just making it a regular part of my NB - either starting with 20 mins of 60 sec subs for stars, or sometimes doing it in the middle of imaging where the sky is at it's darkest.

stu

[Lee_P]

5 minutes ago, powerlord said:

You need hardly any for stars - if you look at the tadpoles ones I posted this week, I only had 8 minutes and they came out good.

and it's easy now with stuff like starXterminator, you just run it on your NB run it on your stars, and then get the stars themselves back however you do that with your edit software (affinity photo for me so its just a subtract later on starless onto of original, merge as new layer - gives you stars) - then you can add or screen them onto the starless.

I've found it really makes a difference, especially in HSO palette, maybe less so in HSO.

Like you I put it off, but mainly because I shoot during the night from my bed, so it would have meant getting up to remove filter which wasn't gonna happen, and doing it later on when I was shooting filterless usually meant I'd moved the camera orientation in the meantime and again it was a pain.

With the wheel now, I'm just making it a regular part of my NB - either starting with 20 mins of 60 sec subs for stars, or sometimes doing it in the middle of imaging where the sky is at it's darkest.

stu

Curse you and your compelling argument! I'll try to remember RGB stars for future NB images.

[simmo39]

V nice, v deep and lovely image.