Two more great datasets from the Telescope Live CHI-1 OTA in Chile!

This was an experiment for me as TL had both a broadband (LRGB) and a narrowband (HA, Sii, Oiii) dataset.  My experiment - to blend the two of them together into a single image.  The rationale for this is that there are details in each palette (LRGB and Narrowband) that are not apparent in the other.  By creating a 'blended' image, I am attempting to get the best of both.

I processed each separately to create a starless LRGB image and a starless Foraxx palette image from the narrowband dataset.  I chose Foraxx because I felt it gave me a good match in color scheme to that of the LRGB dataset.  All processing was in the latest version of PixInsight, using Gradient Correction as the correction tool. 

Of note, even though there is quite bit of NB data, the Sii channel is very faint/not much data.  For narrow band imagers, this target can be acquired with just Ha and Oiii if you assume a HOO palette as the end product.

I used SPCC for color correction on the LRGB dataset and I also used the RGB data to crate the separate Stars image that would be combined with the final blended Nebula/Starless image.

I used Background Neutralization on both images before BXT and Color Correction was applied.  Because the Foraxx palette has its own mix it is not a palette that plays well with SPCC.  I used the standard Color Calibration tool with a starless region as a preview to use for reference.  

SXT was used to create a starles image of both the LRGB and Foraxx image.  Color masking was used to work with the different color regions within the nebula and a range mask was used at the end to allow eliminate a color cast that had developed in the background. HDR was used to pull out the detail in the core and inner ring of the nebula.   NXT and a VERY light touch of Unsharpmask was used to create the "final" image in both.  

Pixel Math was used to create a 50/50 combined image of the final blend of the LRGB and Foraxx image.

There is a bit of red/Ha data surrounding the Helix, which complicates processing aesthetically in this FoV.  A shorter focal length would give a broader view of that background, showing its structure.  In the "close up"  FoV from the PlaneWave CDK24, that faint Ha background has a tendency to look like a bad post processing job that left a color cast to the background.  I chose to make the image "better" aesthetically and use range masks to protect the areas of actual Ha structure that were visible while clipping the 'color cast' in the background out.  To me this approach for this FoV looks better, YMMV.

I think the experiment was reasonably successful, let me know what you think!.

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From WikiPedia:
The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63) is a planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, most likely before 1824, this object is one of the closest of all the bright planetary nebulae to Earth.  The distance, measured by the Gaia mission, is 655±13 light-years.  It is similar in appearance to the Cat's Eye Nebula and the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.  The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the "Eye of God" in pop culture,[6] as well as the "Eye of Sauron".

The Helix Nebula is thought to be shaped like a prolate spheroid with strong density concentrations toward the filled disk along the equatorial plane, whose major axis is inclined about 21° to 37° from our vantage point. The size of the inner disk is 8×19 arcmin in diameter (0.52 pc); the outer torus is 12×22 arcmin in diameter (0.77 pc); and the outer-most ring is about 25 arcmin in diameter (1.76 pc). The outer-most ring appears flattened on one side due to it colliding with the ambient interstellar medium.

Expansion of the whole planetary nebula structure is estimated to have occurred in the last 6,560 years, and 12,100 years for the inner disk.  Spectroscopically, the outer ring's expansion rate is 40 km/s, and about 32 km/s for the inner disk.