Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Aquarius (Aqr)  ·  Contains:  Helix Nebula  ·  NGC 7293  ·  PK036-57.1
The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God, Connor Matherne
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The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God

The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God, Connor Matherne
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The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God

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Description

One of the very first nebulae I ever actually saw an image. Have always wanted an image of it ever since. Luckily the skies in Chile offer some *excellent* views of this target. I've dumped quite a few days into editing this. Starting off with an HaRGB image, before finishing that image and realizing I thought it would be better if I added L to the image.

Initially, the Ha was so noisy after intense stretching that sharpening it became quite dirty and resulted in a ton of artifacts. I opted to keep the halo, and go for a much more mild sharpness. I was getting ready to post it when I realized that maybe just using the L data for the sharpness and Ha for the giant halo might give me the best of both worlds, so that's what you see here!

The L data added many more stars to the image, and made them a bit larger. That was one thing I quite liked about the HaRGB version, was the stars were pretty small and much fewer in number. However, I think I did a well enough job controlling them when combining the L that I didn't get rid off too much of that feel it gave the image.

Overall, very pleased with how this came out. I am looking forward to completing an SHO version of the image as well. Given the similarities of this target already though to the Hubble palette, I am thinking I may get a little experimental with the colors.

Stay tuned, and clear skies!

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    The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God, Connor Matherne
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    The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God, Connor Matherne
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The Helix Nebula / The Eye of God, Connor Matherne