SH2-126 lizards in lacerta

[powerlord]

My 3rd attempt at this over the years. Bit of a wider field than before. Certainly the most integration time I've given it. Still of course very noisy - it's some pretty dim stuff - so I dimmed the stars a wee bit otherwise they do tend to overwelm it a bit - however undimmed stars version here too.

Redcat, asi2600. 8 hours of 5 min subs. Processed in Siril and Affinity Photo.

And with full stars, which on the other hand does a good job of hiding the noise and giving the illusion of greater sharpness:

Edited September 11, 2023 by powerlord

[ollypenrice]

I love this target and this is an enjoyable rendition. Regarding the stars, inevitably I'm going to say, 'somewhere between the two!' Sorry!!!

For me the stars don't add an illusory sharpness, they mask a kind of mottling introduced by star removal.

Olly

[carastro]

I like the second rendition the best, I think star removal is becoming a bit of a fad, they are part of the image.  

Carole 

[Clarkey]

1 hour ago, carastro said:

I like the second rendition the best, I think star removal is becoming a bit of a fad, they are part of the image.

Completely agree.

I definitely prefer the second version - very nice. The first just looks like it has been 'cleaned up'.

[powerlord]

Yeh I tend to agree now. Though I don't think the mottling Olly is talking about is anything to do with the star removal - it's just stretching very dim stuff and then trying to remove some of the noise. In this case I found noiseX made the mottling worse, and settled with a small amount with Topaz noise reduction. Without any noise reduction they be no mottling, but loads of noise - horses for courses.

[JonHigh]

Definitely between the two. I personally find that stars can sometime detract from the object you are taking a picture of. Nothing wrong with tuning them down a bit to allow the nebulosity pop out and showcase it. Awesome image!!! 

[simmo39]

Second one for me. has a lot of impact!