Last year I shot a wide field of this target with FSQ-85EDX. This year during Helix imaging session, I get around 3 hours open slot after Helix hides behind my neighbor's house. So I decided to take a close-up on the elephant trunk. It has pretty much whole night sidereal time. That really helps. I was able to complete the remaining schedule in two nights after Helix is done.

Nights:

8/17/2020, 8/18/2020, 8/19/2020, 8/21/2020, 8/23,2020, 8/24/2020, 8/29/2020, 9/6/2020, 9/7/2020, 9/8/2020, 9/13/2020, 9/16/2020, 9/17/2020, 9/18/2020,

Subs:

ha: 50x600s

o3: 60x600s

s2: 22x600s

r/g/b: 30x120s

Post Processing steps:

1. AstrolPixelProcessor: stack each channel into a master with flat/dark/bias correction

2. PI: Star align using Ha as reference image, close original master images

3. PI: Dynamic crop to cut unwanted part, select the master with tightest frame, cut it and save it as a process, apply the process to other masters

4. PI: Apply DBE as required to these masters one by one

5. PI: Create luminance mask and star mask, use Dynamic PSF to create a star template, apply deconvolution, do these steps on ha/o3/s2 one by one.

6. PI: Use StarNet to remove stars on files out of decon process, you will need to stretch NB masters for StarNet. After star removal manual clean up unwanted spots may be required, this can be done is PI or CS using clone and stamp tool

7. PI: Denoise, I normally use a mask and use MLT or MMT to remove noise slowly . Increase contrast of denoised NB masters.

8. PI: Use PixelMath to construct color image(TonalMapping), here you will need to play with different combination to make sure you like the color. This will serve as your baseline image.

9. PI: Use CurveTransformation to adjust color balance, contrast, brightness, saturation etc. Try to apply small change after small change, instead of a big change. After adjustment, save the files as 16-bit tiffs.

10. PI: Use PixelMath to combine R/G/B master, extract luminance and create a star mask. Stretch color image and use star mask to bring down brightness of everything other than stars.

11. PI: Use CurveTransformation to adjust color balance, contrast, brightness, saturation on stars image, save the file as 16-bit tiff

12. CS: Open files from step 9 and step 11, apply adjustment like contrast, sharpness, color balance. Combine stars into main image through layers(first star layer using light or screen mode, second star layer using soft mode to adjust contrast)

13. CS: export image and complete the process

Note: it is good habit to save PI changes in a PI project, for me, PI crashes from time to time. You could delete the project once it is no longer needed.