M33 lies in the constellation Triangulum and is the third largest galaxy in our Local Group (the others being ourselves and Andromeda). Sprinkled throughout the galaxy's arms you can see red blotches, which are nebula made of mostly ionized hydrogen. Most notably is NGC604 in the upper right position in galaxy. NGC604 is 100 times the size of the Orion Nebula (M42), and with M33 being 3 million light years away, you can think of just how huge that thing is for us to see details in it!

Equipment:

OTA: William Optics GT81 w/0.8x reducer/flattener (382mm fl at f/4.7)

74mm aperture stop-down ring (brings scope to f/5.2)

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G (HEQ-5)

Guidescope: Orion 50mm guidescope

Guiding camera: Orion StarShoot Autoguider

Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool

Accessories:

DeepSkyDad Autofocuser AF1

QHYCCD PoleMaster

Software:

SGP

PHD2

CdC

PixInsight

Acquisition:

Location: Atoka, OK for LRGB(Bortle 3), Flower Mound, TX for Ha(Bortle 7)

Dates: 11/17/19, 11/18/19, 11/23/19, 12/30/19

Gain: 76 Offset: 15 for LRGB

Gain: 200 Offset: 50 for Ha

Camera temp: -20C

L: 76x300" ZWO 1.25in

R: 16x300" ZWO 1.25in

G: 16x300" ZWO 1.25in

B: 16x300" ZWO 1.25in

Ha: 85x600" Astrodon 5nm 1.25in

Total integration time: 24hr 30min

64x darks per calibration (master from library)

30x flats per calibration

200x bias per calibration (master from library)

Preprocessing:

Batch PreProcessing script to generate calibrated images

StarAlignment

LocalNormalization

ImageIntegration

DynamicCrop each master

DBE each master

Luminance Processing:

Deconvolution

Blended Ha regions into the Luminance by using PixelMath equation: "L+(max((1.5*Ha),L))"

TGV & MMT noise reduction (via Jon Rista's method)

ArcsinhStretch x2

HistogramTransformation

HDRMultiscaleTransform

LocalHistogramEqualization

MLT sharpening

Preparing separate R,G,B masters for combination (applied to each master individually):

TGV & MMT noise reduction (via Jon Rista's method)

LinearFit to B master

Preparing Ha master for combination:

TGV & MMT noise reduction (via Jon Rista's method)

Removed stars with several iterations of MMT and MT

Combined processed Red and Ha master with PixelMath equation: "Red*0.8 + Ha*0.2"

Created HaRGB image with ChannelCombination

HaRGB Processing:

PhotometricColorCalibration

TGV & MMT noise reduction (needed another round because of low RGB integration time)

SCNR Green

ArcsinhStretch x2

HistogramTransformation

CurvesTransformation for contrast and background balance

CurvesTransformation for saturation

Combined HaRGB with Luminance using LRGBCombination

LHaRGB Processing:

CurvesTransformation contrast and color adjustments

MT for slight star reduction

UnsharpMask to harden up the soft stars slightly

SCNR Green