LDN 1251: 28h worth of lights in 2 nights

[Bonamy]

This is my first attempt at running two rigs simultaneously on a single target.

I used my Tak 85FSQ coupled with a 6200mm collecting luminance data, and combined this with a RedCat 61 collecting RGB with a 2600mc.  I was lucky enough to have clear nights on the 3rd and 6th of November.

With LDN1251 well placed all night it enabled me to get 10h of luminance and almost 19h of RGB data. It did leave me the nice problem of having to process a lot of 120s subs, but at least the computer warmed the house whilst it was processing.

I processed in Pixinsight using a pretty simple workflow: WBPP Drizzle x2, BlurX, Integer Resample, Spectrographic Colour Calibration, StarX, NoiseX, GHS, LRGB combination, recombined the stars and finished off in Photoshop to adjust final levels and colour saturation.

 Surprised how easy it was to combine the two image scales and work with the data. The tricky part was running two rigs and having to setup from scratch each night.

[tooth_dr]

That is really very very nice, looks great on full resolution, background galaxies are so detailed.  Well done!

[tomato]

Great image, dual rigs certainly ratchet up the integration times, but hats off to you if you are setting this up each night.

[Bonamy]

44 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

That is really very very nice, looks great on full resolution, background galaxies are so detailed.  Well done!

Thank you. Yes, I love the small galaxies poking through the dust.

[simmo39]

That is a fantastic image, Im in the same area and missed both of those clear nights! life is a pain sometime.

[mackiedlm]

That's a fantastic image. well done

 

[glafnazur]

Great image, the detail is amazing

[Bonamy]

2 hours ago, simmo39 said:

That is a fantastic image, Im in the same area and missed both of those clear nights! life is a pain sometime.

It was one of these nights where Clearoutside said it wasn't going to be clear, but it stayed cloud free all night. Usually the otherway round!

[gorann]

That is a very impressive image and rarely seen in such a wide field! Congratulations! I love the processing.

Edited November 9, 2023 by gorann

[Ouroboros]

Fantastic image. I am so impressed with what some of you ‘real’ astrophotographers can do.

Thanks for posting your workflow. So useful for those of us still padding around in the foothills of astro processing. 

What does integer resampling do for you? 

[Bonamy]

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

Fantastic image. I am so impressed with what some of you ‘real’ astrophotographers can do.

Thanks for posting your workflow. So useful for those of us still padding around in the foothills of astro processing. 

What does integer resampling do for you? 

Thank you, that's very kind. The Integer Resample is basically bringing the file size back to the original capture resolution. The drizzle x2 helps the deconvolution step (BlurX), but from that point I prefer to revert to a more manageable pixel scale.  The light bulb moment for the benefits of Drizzle was watching Russell Crowman on the AstroImaging Channel (https://youtu.be/5_Dg7bYu-E8?t=4819)

2 hours ago, gorann said:

That is a very impressive image and rarely seen in such a wide field! Congratulations! I love the processing.

Thank you. I'm not a fan of the Rotten fish name this nebula has, and like to think of it more as a whale from above leaving a turbulent wake in the water.

[Clarkey]

Great image and processing. Much as I love these subtle dusty images, I always seem to struggle to get the dust detail. (Not sure whether it is completely linked to my B6 skies). You have certainly nailed it on this one.

 

What I do want to know - where did the clear nights come from?