Decided to try a wider shot of the Lagoon Nebula, using the ST-80. There’s some color fringing around the stars (not surprising at all with this scope) that I attempted to minimize in processing. The Lagoon is a beautiful target. One of these days I hope to do it justice!
I decided the original just looked way over-processed. In the B revision I drizzle stacked, didn't mess with the colors, and sharpened a lot less. It is hard for me to resist the temptation to make detail show up, but I think this is better.
In the C revision, tried to bring back some of the detail without losing the more natural look and colors.
Date: 5-6 Jul 2016
Subject: M8, Lagoon Nebula
Scope: Orion ST-80 + Antares 0.5x focal reducer
Filter: Baader Planetarium UHC-S
Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD)+PEC
Guiding: AT8IN+High Point Scientific Coma Corrector +DSI Ic+PHD 2.6.1.8 (Win 10 ASCOM)
Camera: DSI IIc, no chiller CCD 20 °C
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 2.5.1.17 with Nebulosity 4.0.4 ASCOM camera driver (Win 10)
Exposure: 38x300 s
Stacking: Neb 4, bad pixel map, bias included, 33 flats, match histograms, trans+rot align, Nebulosity 4 40-60%tile stack.
Processing: StarTools 1.4.316: Crop; Wipe; Develop: 78.61%; HDR
ptimize; Color:Scientific, 200% saturation; Deconvolute: 3.0 pix; Life: Moderate; Contrast; Life: Moderate; Track: Smoothness 87%, 4.5 pix; Magic, shrink 1 pix; Filter: Fringe Killer. Photoshop CS6 + Astronomy Tools: Deep space noise reduction; Increase star color; Astroframe.
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