This is a closeup of the Cone nebula, part of the larger NGC2234 complex. It is an area of intense star formation that lies roughly 2,300 light years away from Earth in the Monoceros constellation.
I was inspired by the amazing rendition by @
Christoph Lichtblau where he was able to bring out an amazing array of colors in an area that has a very strong Ha signal and very weak O3 and comparatively weak S2. My first processing attempts resulted in a rather flat image dominated by yellows.
After many pixel math trial and error sessions I was able to able to land on a blend that I was satisfied with. I would like to have been able to bring more blue into the image but man, that signal is so weak. Any more and it started to look cartoonish to me.
I could have spent another 20 hours playing with it, but I had to stop tinkering and move on! I may double up the integration time next season and try again. I left one of my first versions up so you can see the difference.
I hope you agree that this is a solid attempt.
CS
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