I guess that in astrophotography, it is sometimes best to keep your colors a little more subdued in busy, complex areas of the night sky such as this region of the constellation Orion. I initially combined Ha data from an Optolong L-Ultimate dual-narrowband filter with this stack of 74 light frames captured using an ASI294MC one-shot color camera with a UV/IR cut filter. The resulting Ha-RGB image was indeed rich and powerful. I showed both versions to my family and friends and they all picked the plain RGB version over the HRGB.
The RGB-only image shown above has limited post-processing done to it. I used PixInsight's Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch to keep the stars in check and bring out the dust in the surrounding region. I used only modest curve adjustments and no saturation. This is one panel of a four-panel mosaic that extends to the Orion nebula. I hope to get around to processing that data set sometime in the next few months.
IC434 is the bright pinkish-red hydrogen alpha emission nebula that fills the image and forms the backdrop for the dark "Horsehead" nebula silhouetted in front of it.
NGC2024, the Flame nebula, is Immediately below. The bright star
Alnitak (ζ Ori) shines energetic
ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the
great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine.
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