Started off using the Baader Fringe Killer filter at 600 s. This did not work well because the sky background overwhelmed the nebula. I backed off to 300 s, but that still didn't show enough nebula. I finally decided to switch the UHC-S filter. This made a huge difference, increasing the contrast and allowing me to go back to 600 s subs. Imaged up to the meridian, performed a flip, and went to bed.
B revision: I liked how the 18 Aug 2015 Eastern Loop turned out so much that I decided to try the same processing techniques on the 17 Aug 2015 Western Loop image. So I did HDR Equalize on this, pulled back to 150% on the color saturation, then played with layer masked noise reduction and “less crunchy more fuzzy” in Photoshop, with a bit of levels adjustment. This is the result. I think this picks up more fine detail.
Date: 17 Aug 2015
Subject: NGC 6960, Western Loop of Veil or Witch’s Broom Nebula
Scope: Orion ST-80+Antares 0.5x focal reducer
Filter: Baader UHC-S
Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors, PicGoto Simplificado)
Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.5.0 (Win 7 ASCOM)
Camera: DSI IIc no cooling (about 20 °C)
Acquisition: Nebulosity 4.0.2, no dither
Exposure: 33x600 s
Stacking: Neb 4.0.2, bad pixel map, bias included, 33 flats, RGB nebula filter, histogram match, deBayer & square. DSS 2x drizzle, 1.75σ κ-σ stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.289 Crop; Wipe: 78%; Develop: 80.38%; HDR
ptimize; Color:Scientific 200%; Deconvolute 4.6 pix; Life:moderate; Track 6.3 pix, smoothness 88%; Magic, shrink 1 pix; extract stars and wavelet sharpen background, add stars back. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools Deep space nr; Space NR; Levels; Astroframe.
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