Also featured as the 23 December, 2021 AAPOD2! (
https://www.aapod2.com/blog/the-reaper-ldn-673-684)
My primary target from the 2021 Star Party - LDN 673 appears like a swirling mass of tentacles, and LDN 684 is included (to the upper-right), fans of the Mass Effect series may notice it appears like the shadow of a Reaper, leading to my title. As this nebula complex (600 l.y. distant) is located within the main band of the Milky Way, the area is filled with golden and red starlight, making the darkness of the nebula easily stand out and providing the rare blue stars with brilliant color contrast.
Pre-Processing:
- Darks, Flats, Flat Darks calibration
- Cosmetic Correction, Subframe Selection
- Star Align, Local Norm
- Image Integration, Drizzle Integration
Housekeeping:
- Crop
- LFit G, B to R
- RGB Combine
L Processing:
- Decon
- Rista TGVD, MMT
- HT stretch, MS stretch, HT stars screen-blended using Star Mask
- Rista ACDNR
- HT alterations
- LRGB Combination
RGB Processing:
- Background Neut
- PCC
- SCNR G
- Rita TGVD, MMT
- Background Neut using Preview
- ArcSinH, MS, HT
- Rista ACDNR (L settings, custom RGB settings)
- HT Darken
- Slight Conv for stars, heavier Conv for background
- LRGB Combination
LRGB Processing:
- DSE 50% using 8 layers, 3x3
- Curves Alterations
- Adam Blcok Star Deemphasis
- MT for further Star Reduction
- Tweaks to color cast, star saturation, contrast
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