IC 434 - a light show (Tom Gray)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Orion (Ori) · Contains: 48 sig Ori · 50 zet Ori · Alnitak · B33 · Flame Nebula · HD294272 · HD37524 · HD37525 · HD37564 · HD37633 · HD37641 · HD37660 · HD37661 · HD37662 · HD37674 · HD37699 · HD37744 · HD37776 · HD37805 · HD37806 · HD37903 · HD37904 · HD37927 · HD38087 · HD38099 · Horsehead nebula · IC 431 · IC 432 · IC 434 · IC 435 · And 11 more.

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IC 434 - a light show

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IC 434 - a light show

IC 434 provides the perfect backdrop and sets the stage for the horsehead 'nebula' (B33) and friends. It is easy to be distracted by the flame nebula in dazzling colour, and there is a danger of overlooking the subtle detail and H emissions that envelope this region. Notoriously difficult visually, the emissions and the dark horse pop our with narrowband filters.

This image comprises just under an hour with my L-eNhance filter, using 120s subs. There is a fair amount of walking noise, in part because I combined two image sets, after my Dec motor was slipping, but also the short exposures (limited to 2m due to some wind). Much cleaner than my earlier widefield attempt using a Pentax lens, the Zenithstar certainly has better optics.

As usual, captured in Envisage, stacked in Nebulosity and processed in Startools. A standard workflow, but I did have to repair a few slightly deformed stars towards the edge of the field.

Original
B
Final
C

B

Description: This version was stacked and aligned in Penumbra v0.6 with gentle HDR brightening and sharpening, improving the contrast. I much prefer this 'less is more' approach, and over-processed the original in Startools v1.7 I remind myself that there is no substitute to sufficient exposure and integration!

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Brightened and sharpened further in Penumbra. Obvious artefacts around some stars, but I'm pleased with the extra detail achieved by being a bit more bold...

Uploaded: ...

Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
UK Astro-Imaging
Low-Cost Astrophotography
Only Monochromatic (Black and White!!!!! NO color, please!)

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4116393
PixInsight job	VW8ZEOPV240B1TPV84S1TYLB1CT4EB6O
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h40m42s.37
RA (top/left)	05h38m19s.35
RA (top/right)	05h38m09s.41
RA (bottom/right)	05h43m04s.32
RA (bottom/left)	05h43m13s.93

Dec (center)	-02°08′25″.5
Dec (top/left)	-01°21′28″.4
Dec (top/right)	-02°53′22″.5
Dec (bottom/right)	-02°55′15″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	-01°23′32″.7

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IC 434 - a light show

IC 434 - a light show

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IC 434 - a light show

IC 434 - a light show

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