After being done with the Mode 1 Gain 60 on my 268, I built masters for two settings Mode 1 Gain 0 for RGB and Mode 0 Gain 31 for NB and picked up this target to test NB. Plus I switched to Nina on imaging. Subs looked good enough, so I kept adding data. 

It was only when I started to stack Ha and O3 it dawned upon me that I needed shorter exposures on the core. Went back and added, but set it to dither on every RGB exposure, when I could have gotten away without dither on shorter exposures. What should have taken one night, spilled into two nights. Missed out on additional Ha I was planning to add. 

It has been pretty windy on clear nights (only when the moon is up), so any attempt ends up in the subs going into trash. 

Then came the fun part of stacking subs. I hated it and wished someone would do it for me . Processing was not fun either as I tried a few methods to get the core to show and/or the O3 and Ha to show. Spent a bit of time these past few days trying to make it to work. Finally I used Synthetic Lum of all the masters as a test and the core was too dark or did not have any details or color to it. Ended up using PixelMath to blend in the core information and substituted the RGB stars.

I'm done, I don't want to process this again or shoot anything that needs short exposures for a while. The result could have been better with more data, but with Edge at f/10, it's like throwing into a bottomless pit and I need to move on from looking at this. 

Oh and Nina works great. Does exactly what it is being told to do in the advanced sequencer, which includes instructions like 'Unpark scope' that I missed adding one night. The thing just sat there like waiting for a bus and I was checking next morning why the folder was empty . 

Hope you like this result. Clear skies!


I'm listing below a high-level steps of what I did to the final revision:

HaO3
1. Create HOO image using a Pixelmath combination. I used
     R = Ha
     G=F*Ha+~F*O3
     B =O3

     Symbols F = 0.15

2. Process it to taste (Decon, stretch, HDRMT on the core, curves, LRGB combination using O3 or Synthetic
lum of all masters)

3. Create a starless copy

RGB stars
1. Create RGB image

2. Stretch it to taste using HistogramTransformation and curves for star colors

3. Create a starless copy and get the stars image 

HaO3RGB stars
1. Combine HaO3 + RGB stars using Pixelmath 

2. Create a Gradient Edge game mask on the core, which will be used next

RGB core
1. Run Decon on R G B stacks individually or from the combined RGB image

2. Use Arcsinstretch to a small amount of 10-15 depending on your stack. Just enough to show some colors.

3. Take the game mask apply it on the image and invert it. Stretch the image to an amount  where the outer nebula shows. Kind of like a regular HistogramTransformation, but with protecting the core

4. Invert the game mask and now create a preview on just the core region and stretch using HistogramTransformation up until the RGB readouts in the core is close enough to the region near to the mask but that is not protected. 

5. With the game mask still on the core, run a small iteration of HDRMT using 4-6 layers and scaling function of SmallScale (8-32) or Guassian (5-7) with preserve hue enable. Test with preview as results might vary, but the objective is to bring back details and colors that were slightly blown as a result of the stretch to the core

6. Now apply the game mask on the HaO3RGBstars image, which exposes just the core.

7. Open up pixelmath, reset settings, in RGB/K field, type in RGBCore and drag it onto HaO3RGBstars image. This will bring the RGB core onto the HaO3RGBstars image. 

8. Zoom into see if the colors blend in and tweak if necessary with the game mask still enabled.