This is a complete reprocessing of my Heart Nebula data from last year.  I've applied all the current tools and workflow steps and dropped the Lum channel completely since it added nothing to the image.  Since this is new from the ground up, I'm posting this as a new image rather than a revision of the previous posting.

I've had a fondness for this nebula, so much so that a print of it was an XMas gift for my wife.  I have not yet done a monochrome/narrowband imaging session for its neighbor, The Soul Nebula but hope to manage that this year, weather permitting.

This was captured for three nights of imaging; the first being a bit short as I worked through the sensor tilt adjustment of my ZWO ASI2600MM-P.

Ha:    50 x 300s
Sii:     40 x 300s
Oiii:    34 x 300s

Post processing was in PixInsight with the Hubble/SHO palette.  I achieved much more accurate stars in this reworking thanks to the NB to RGB algorithm that Uwe Deutermann shared with me a few months ago.  It was a bit more difficult to get some 'snap' into this image since I was still using the Optolong 7nm narrow band filters at the time (I currently use Antlia 3nm filters).

The experience in processing this same data today, vs. the effort last year is so much better.  That is due to the slew of upgrades/improvements to PixInsight and Russ Croman's NXT, BXT, and SXT tools.  There has literally been a sea change in how the tools and PI work together since this time last year.

I hope you enjoy, like and let me know what you think in the comments.

From Wikipedia:

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.

More information on this object can be found here: Heart Nebula - Wikipedia