My Winter Collection

[AMcD]

I have been endeavouring this winter to concentrate on reflection nebula.  Over the course of the winter, I have managed to complete three such targets.  I had also hoped to image the 'Running Man' Nebula, but as Orion processes inexorably West I think this target will now have to wait until next season to complete.  Each image was taken with my QHY268M using Antlia Pro LRGB filters on my TS Optics Photoline 130 APO mounted on a Losmandy G11.  The data was acquired with SGPro and processed in PixInsight.  I set out below a summary of my Pix|Insight workflow used on these images.

 

NGC1333 in LRGB comprising a total of approximately 24 hours of 120s integrations.

 

The Iris Nebula in LRGB comprising approximately 22 hours of 120s integrations.

vdb14 and vdb15 in LRGB comprising approximately 15 hours of 120s integrations.

 

PixInsight Workflow:

Blink frames to remove integrations with high cloud etc.

Stack L, R, G and B in WBPP Script

Align resulting L, R, G and B images using StarAlignment.

Dynamic Crop L, R, G and B to same dimensions.

Dynamic Background Extraction (DBE) on L.

Evaluate PSF on L.

Remove stars from L using StarXterminator to create L starless.

Perform deconvolution on L starless using BlurXTerminator and measured PSF.

Perform Linear Fit on R, G and B channels.

Combine R, G and B in Colour Combination in PixInsight.

Perform DBE on RGB image.

Perform Background Neutralisation on RGB image.

Obtain Astrometric solutions for RGB using Image Solver Script

Perform SpectroPhotometric Colour Calibration on RGB image.

Stretch a copy of RGB image using Masked Stretch and remove stars using StarXterminator Generate Star Image to generate RGB stars.

Evaluate PSF of master RGB image.

Remove stars from master RGB image using StarXtermninator to create RGB starless

Perform deconvolution on master RGB starless using BlurXTerminator and measured PSF.

Stretch L starless and RGB starless to non-linear with Masked Stretch:

Add L starless to master RGB starless to give LRGB starless using LRGB Combination.

Perform Noise reduction on LRGB starless with Noise XTerminator.

Perform stretches on LRGB starless using Curves Transformation on LRGB starless.

Set black point on LRGB starlesss and balance channels in Histogram Transformation

Curves Transformation to reduce / enhance stars on RGB stars image.

Add back RGB Stars to LRGB starless using Pixelmath.

Adjust saturation using Colour Saturation

Reset Blackpoint with Histogram Transformation.

Integer Resample.
 

Edited February 27, 2023 by AMcD