IC 405, Flaming Star Nebula, ASI1600MM-Cool+AT8IN First Light, HαLRGB, 26 Dec 2016 (David Dearden)

IC 405, Flaming Star Nebula, ASI1600MM-Cool+AT8IN First Light, HαLRGB, 26 Dec 2016

Finally got a real astronomy camera, and this was my first chance to take it out for a spin. I had quite a struggle getting both the camera and the filter wheel connected; it turns out this setup seems to be very sensitive to what cabling and USB settings I choose. Specifically, I found I had to set VMWare to USB 2.0 to be able to download images from this camera. But I finally got it all working.

I'm aware there are other possibilities with this camera, but I decided to go with unity gain for a first try. I can see I have a lot to learn about LRGB imaging. The processing is way more intense than with my old one-shot color camera. I need to find a good write-up about typical processing strategies. I struggled trying to get the color how I wanted it and didn't really succeed, but this wasn't too bad for a first try, and the resulting image is far, far superior to my last attempt on this target.

I tried adding in Hα, but didn’t like the result (it messed up the star colors too much).

Date: 26 Dec 2016

Subject: IC 405, Flaming Star Nebula

Scope: AT8IN+High Point Scientific coma corrector

Filters: ZWO 31 mm LRGB

Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD)+PEC

Guiding: Orion TOAG +DSI Ic+PHD 2.6.2.4 (Win 10 ASCOM)

Camera: ASI1600MM-Cool, -15 °C, acquired 1x1 software binned to 2x2

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 2.6.0.1

Exposure: 12x300 s with each filter

Stacking: Neb 4.1.2, flats & darks, trans+rot align, Nebulosity 1.5σ stack.

Processing: align and combine the unstretched R, G, B. Stretch and sharpen the L data aggressively, the RGB less so in StarTools 1.4. Add the L to the RGB in Photoshop CC 2014 with Carboni’s Astronomy Tools

Original
B
C
Final
D

B

Description: This is the LRGB version with no H-alpha added.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Perhaps a better LRGB rendition, at least with better star colors. It's still got some color gradients I can't seem to get rid of. I'm still learning how to process data from a monochrome camera.

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: This uses 75% Hα+25% Luminance as the luminance layer, and uses what I've learned about processing over the last few days. The star colors aren't as good as in the LRGB image, but the nebula looks better.

Uploaded: ...

ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	1394262
PixInsight job	4IU2GWHQ3F55KH4XAL8F6K20FHE7MFKR
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h16m33s.39
RA (top/left)	05h18m55s.36
RA (top/right)	05h13m37s.50
RA (bottom/right)	05h14m13s.37
RA (bottom/left)	05h19m28s.14

Dec (center)	+34°27′27″.9
Dec (top/left)	+34°57′06″.7
Dec (top/right)	+34°47′52″.8
Dec (bottom/right)	+33°57′40″.4
Dec (bottom/left)	+34°06′45″.10

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