The Flying Bat (Pt of) and the Squid nebulae

[fwm891]

I've been gathering the subs for this over the last few nights using my dual Askar 120 APO set-up with ASI2600 MC Duo and 2600 MC Pro cameras and Askar D1 and D2 filters fitted (one to each scope) both with 0.8x reducer flattener.

Subs have been either 300 or 600 seconds in length with a total integration time of 14 hours and 15 minutes. Only 1 image has been longer than that for me of the Shark nebula otherwise I normally stick to around 3 - 6 hour integrations but the Squid just wasn't coming out with those timings.

The Askar filters (D1: Ha/OIII) & (D2: SII/OIII) I've been playing with for a few weeks now. The D2's OIII response seems stronger on this subject than the D1's although I have no way of measuring the actual bandpasses of either. They certainly do the job but my observation on this longer single use is that the D1's OIII is weaker than the D2's?

Anyway. Processing was done in PI. I lumped all the D1 & D2 subs together for Debayering (combined channels), Star Alignment and integration. The integration was saved and then split into its RGB components. PixelMath was used to then combine the green and blue channel images as the squid is a teal (blue/green) colour. The resulting image I then worked on with the clone tool by filling in the background around the squid making it as even as I could, then with Curves raising the levels and contrast of the image to form a mask for processing the squid and bat separately after a spot of BXT and Star Removal from the initial integration.

The star only image was just given a saturation boost. The nebula background image had the squid mask applied and by repeated reversals/inversions of the mask the RGB background was enhanced (reds possibly too far!) before the star were re-applied with PixelMath.

Squid mask also attached.

Not intending to gather any more data on this one. The final night and gathering 20x 600s subs certainly boosted the OIII content.

Hope you like.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31 by fwm891
Images changed

[WolfieGlos]

What a superb result, and “only” 14 hours for the squid is really impressive.

The mono image looks like it is showing a faint outer wave of OIII on the top side, is that real or an artefact of processing?

How do you find the D1 filters, are they worth the investment? 

One for you here @TiffsAndAstro 😁

[TiffsAndAstro]

13 minutes ago, WolfieGlos said:

What a superb result, and “only” 14 hours for the squid is really impressive.

The mono image looks like it is showing a faint outer wave of OIII on the top side, is that real or an artefact of processing?

How do you find the D1 filters, are they worth the investment? 

One for you here @TiffsAndAstro 😁

I don't really want to look as they're really, really impressive ;(

My 10 minutes test sub got absolutely no hint of Oiii

[Stuart1971]

Absolutely superb, i have just invested in the D1 and D2 filter set, got a bit cheaper direct from Askar, and can’t wait to try them out, especially  seeing results like this one…👏🏻👏🏻

[Craney]

That's an excellent result.

I was squidless after 6 hours with a Samyang 135mm and a sensitive Atik414 mono.

[fwm891]

2 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

What a superb result, and “only” 14 hours for the squid is really impressive.

The mono image looks like it is showing a faint outer wave of OIII on the top side, is that real or an artefact of processing?

How do you find the D1 filters, are they worth the investment? 

One for you here @TiffsAndAstro 😁

I think that might be my attempt at cloning out the background with a soft edged brush and not getting close enough to the outline. Perhaps I should have taken the image into Photoshop and worked on the masking there...?

[Bluemoonjim]

Great image!

I have been trying to capture the elusive squid with my OSC camera. I have just under 30 hours and can just about see something of it in a very overstretched star bloated kind of way. 
I know for this target mono and filters is the way to go, just wish my bank account would see it the same way!

Edited September 4 by Bluemoonjim

[fwm891]

A modified mask in Photoshop. Should have done this rather than trying to clone out the background with the clone stamp in PI...

[WolfieGlos]

2 hours ago, fwm891 said:

I think that might be my attempt at cloning out the background with a soft edged brush and not getting close enough to the outline. Perhaps I should have taken the image into Photoshop and worked on the masking there...?

Fair enough, I was only curious. It's not one I've imaged before, so wondered if there was more to it  

[old_eyes]

Very nice indeed. I have made several attempts on the Squid, but never managed to pull it out of the Flying Bat. Not enough data or not enough processing skills. Probably both!

[City9Town0]

4 hours ago, old_eyes said:

Very nice indeed. I have made several attempts on the Squid, but never managed to pull it out of the Flying Bat. Not enough data or not enough processing skills. Probably both!

You are definitely not alone..!

I'm the same!