A Witch watches Rigel (IC2118) (Linwood Ferguson)

A Witch watches Rigel (IC2118)

This is one of the most frustrating targets I tried, the light pollution at my home was just too much for the dim, reflection face (it reflects Rigel's light, it does not glow with emissions as many nebula do). I got four nights at home (Bortle 7) and still barely had a face, then got one night at Big Cypress dark site (Bortle 3), shot only Luminance, and had enough for an image (I hope).

This is 92 Red at 240s, 75 Green @ 240s, 55 Blue @ 240s, and 182 Luminance (also 240s, except a handful of 120s for testing). Half the Luminance was at a dark site, half bright. This is about 11.5h of Luminance and a bit less than 15h or RGB.

This was shot with an NP101is and ASI6200MM, with Chroma filters, on an AP1100AE mount.

I post processed this twice, the first time the stars were too de-emphasized and behind the haze from some of the dust looked strange, even though the nebula was more prominent. This is a redo with minimal minimization of the stars, and a bit stronger saturate for them to print them out more. Rigel was de-emphasized quite a bit, but the strange loopy structures (presumably from the filters) I left as-is rather than doing localized surgery on it.

I actually wonder if the processing challenges are exacerbated by poor RGB quality. I get a fair amount of detail from the Luminance, but increasing saturation to get some star color I think created odd halos and dust areas. It also seems to have prevented plate solving here, which is why you see no overlay. However with it setting earlier and clouds I have no real opportunity to get more RGB at a dark site, so ... this is done even if it is not really finished. Maybe next year.

I welcome criticism and suggestions.

ASI 6200 MM Pro
Imaged with N.I.N.A.
N.I.N.A. Users
Constructive Critique Requested
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