IC 434 (Horsehead Nebula) Close-Up (Alex Woronow)

IC 434 (Horsehead Nebula) Close-Up

IC 434 The Horsehead

OTA:……………….CDK17
Camera:………….FLI Proline 16803, 9 micron pixels, 0.64 arcsec/pxl
Observatory:…. Rodeo, NM (owned by Bernard Miller)

EXPOSURES:
R: 17 x 900 sec.
B: 16 x 900
G: 15x 900
14 hours of L that added nothing noticeable to the image
Total exposure uses 12 of 36 hours

Processed by Alex Woronow (2022) using PixInsight, Topaz, SWT

Zoomed way in, this starless version greatly appeals to me. It has an almost painted feeling, but the processing was not that different from my usual approach, except that it has been upscale 2x. Sometimes you just get lucky, I guess.

As you can see from the list of subframes above, I had 14 hours of luminance subs that I decided not to use. Actually, I did an extensive evaluation of the detail in the 14 hours of luminance as compared to the luminance extracted from the RGB image, both in the minimally processed stage and with a moderate amount of post-processing (identical for the extracted L and the 14 hours of separately captured L) and could find no added value to be gained by replacing the L inherent in the RGB with the separate L. After that discovery, I examined the role of L in 4 other RGB+L images and found L to be of no added value in any of them, this included a galaxy and 3 bright nebulae.

The details of this work will be described in an article that I will “publish” in the Astrobin forum (after a presentation or two to local clubs), probably sometime in late February, but you can drop me a request before then, if you just cannot wait.

Hope you enjoy it too….
Alex Woronow

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
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Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6812457
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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