Flaming Star Nebula on RASA with spikes

[Catanonia]

I recently bought a new cable router 3D print from the YouTuber Steven Morris (well worth the £12 download if you have a 3D printer)

I am quite pleased with the results especially considering I took the RASA 8 apart to clean the inside of the corrector lens, mirror etc and had to hand collimate it myself. 

Hint, a OCAL collimator works well if you understand the physics

I have a little camera tilt that if you really pixel peek you will see. I will tackle over the summer 

So here is the Flaming Star Nebula

Details

• RASA 8 on SW EQ8R 
• ZWO 2600 MC Pro OSC with no filters
• 5.5 hours in 3min subs 1xbin
• Bortle 6 skies
• All processed in PI start to finish

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Catanonia

[gorann]

You really captured a lot of the illusive blue reflection nebula, but then you hava a RASA of course! Have you considered trying Starnet2 or StarXT on the image to bring out more of the faint nebulosity without stretching the stars?

[Catanonia]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

You really captured a lot of the illusive blue reflection nebula, but then you hava a RASA of course! Have you considered trying Starnet2 or StarXT on the image to bring out more of the faint nebulosity without stretching the stars?

Thanks buddy, yeah the RASA is a light bucket.

I used StarNet2 in PI to remove the stars before processing the nebula and then added the stars back again after the work.

Still learning some new techniques and desperately trying not to over process the data that I have been guilty of previously.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Very nice, especially considering it's broadband only - I tried this in RGB only once and it looked rubbish, but you've captured so much of the fainter Ha regions there. 

[Catanonia]

7 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Very nice, especially considering it's broadband only - I tried this in RGB only once and it looked rubbish, but you've captured so much of the fainter Ha regions there. 

It is a tough one in OSC with no filters, but the power of F2 is something to behold  

[gorann]

23 hours ago, Catanonia said:

Thanks buddy, yeah the RASA is a light bucket.

I used StarNet2 in PI to remove the stars before processing the nebula and then added the stars back again after the work.

Still learning some new techniques and desperately trying not to over process the data that I have been guilty of previously.

I hope you do not mind that I took the liberty of using StarXT in PS on your image to see if the starfield could be suppressed more. It allowed me to boost the nebulosity and then bring back the stars at a much suppressed level using a curve on the star layer. It was a quick and dirty try and obviously it would be better to do this on a 16 or 32 bit version.

Cheers, Göran

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by gorann

[Catanonia]

On 16/02/2023 at 09:25, gorann said:

I hope you do not mind that I took the liberty of using StarXT in PS on your image to see if the starfield could be suppressed more. It allowed me to boost the nebulosity and then bring back the stars at a much suppressed level using a curve on the star layer. It was a quick and dirty try and obviously it would be better to do this on a 16 or 32 bit version.

Cheers, Göran

Not a problem and I am definately missing a lot of detail, thanks

I decided to go back on this too and also use the new Spectral Colour Calibration in PI.

Looks a lot better with a little more effort in the lum portion of the image

Amazing how your processing gives such a different outcome. This is what I love about this hobby, everyone is an artist

Still a lot to learn, even after 8 years

On 16/02/2023 at 09:25, gorann said:

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Catanonia

[Catanonia]

On 16/02/2023 at 09:25, gorann said:

I hope you do not mind that I took the liberty of using StarXT in PS on your image to see if the starfield could be suppressed more. It allowed me to boost the nebulosity and then bring back the stars at a much suppressed level using a curve on the star layer. It was a quick and dirty try and obviously it would be better to do this on a 16 or 32 bit version.

Cheers, Göran

 

Goran,

Could you give me a rough workflow on the processing you did please.

Top level will do, I can work out the rest

On 16/02/2023 at 09:25, gorann said:

 

 

[gorann]

I do it in PS so I am not sure how you blend in a star layer in PI. But in short I use starXT (Starnet2 would work also) to separate the image into a starless layer and a star layer. Then I work on the starless layer to bring out as much nebulosity as possible. Then I add the stars back and blend them in using a curve to reduce their brightness (working with the shape of the curve to make it look good). Quite simple in PS but I never done it in PI (I only use PI for some specific actions and for stacking)

Edited February 17, 2023 by gorann

[ollypenrice]

Paul and I have just done this target in the RASA/ASI2600 OSC rig. The key thing is star removal at a fairly early stage in the stretch so you can stretch the hell out of the rest. Then there's star replacement. This is where I would rather be in Photoshop than PI because, in Ps, I can see what I'm doing in real time. That's to say, I have the extracted star layer as a layer over the starless and can adjust its histogram using various tools while seeing what that does in real time. Once the black point is set in the star layer, you simply use the Levels mid point slider to choose the star size you like best.

I'm sure that Catatonia could have more nebulosity and less star, so to speak.

Olly

[gorann]

8 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Paul and I have just done this target in the RASA/ASI2600 OSC rig. The key thing is star removal at a fairly early stage in the stretch so you can stretch the hell out of the rest. Then there's star replacement. This is where I would rather be in Photoshop than PI because, in Ps, I can see what I'm doing in real time. That's to say, I have the extracted star layer as a layer over the starless and can adjust its histogram using various tools while seeing what that does in real time. Once the black point is set in the star layer, you simply use the Levels mid point slider to choose the star size you like best.

I'm sure that Catatonia could have more nebulosity and less star, so to speak.

Olly

That is essentially what I did with my version of @Catanonia's image above although I use Curves rather than Levels when I blend in the stars. Not sure which is best. I guess I imagine I get more control of the star core/halo appearance using a curve.

[ollypenrice]

3 hours ago, gorann said:

That is essentially what I did with my version of @Catanonia's image above although I use Curves rather than Levels when I blend in the stars. Not sure which is best. I guess I imagine I get more control of the star core/halo appearance using a curve.

I also use the bog standard Brightness and Contrast tools on the star layer. This is essentially just a Curves tool but I find it works well. I look for a curve which gives me the right size of stars but which doesn't brighten the background at all.  In blend mode Screen the star layer can influence the background if its low brightness values are too high.

Olly

[Catanonia]

Had another play at this taking on board the suggestions and  I think I am getting a better result.

Many thanks to @gorann and @ollypenrice

[ollypenrice]

That's really good. Personally I'd ease down the saturation a bit, in red, at least. The stars are super, now.

Olly