Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  California nebula  ·  NGC 1499  ·  The star 50Per  ·  The star ξPer
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California Nebula in bLRGB, David McClain
California Nebula in bLRGB
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California Nebula in bLRGB

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Description

(bLRGB = backward LRBG)

12x150s of L from 2x2 binning mode (half-hour)

12x150s of RGB from 1x1 binning mode (half-hour)

This image is an example where I used equal total exposures in both L and RGB. There was plenty of color information, and the image benefited from the increased L sensitivity to show intensity variations better than the RGB color image would have alone.

In a previous post, I mentioned that the bLRGB technique might save time for equivalent results: 1/2 hr of L + 1/2 hr of RGB > 1 hr of RGB. That might be true when the target actually has a lot of different colors.

But in this case, when you dissect the color planes of the 1x1 RGB image, there is essentially zero information from the nebula in the G and B planes. All of the signal is in R. And so it is doubtful that there would really be any gain from bLRGB in this particular case.

It might well have been just as colorful and detailed had I done the full hour in RGB mode. In other cases there is a clear benefit to the bLRGB technique. (a poor man's LRGB method when armed with only an OSC)

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California Nebula in bLRGB, David McClain