RCW 2: A Demonic Nebula…with a Little Dreaming

OTA: CDK24
Camera: QHY 600M
Observatory: Telescope Live
Date of Capture:
Date of Processing: May 1

Exposures Used:
H: 17 x 600 sec
O: 18 x   "
S: 10 x   "
Total Exposure time: 7.5 hours
Image Width: 29' 10"

Processing Tools:
1.    Commercial: PixInsight, Topaz, Radiant Photo, 3DLUT Creator, [, DreamStudio]
2.    Pixinsight Addons: NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator
3.    My Scripts: NB_Assistant, AC_Restar, Subframe Weighting Tool (Excel w/ J. Hunt), ColorTweaker

Target Description:
The RCW 2 nebula radiates red due to ionized hydrogen but also has a blue reflection-nebula component. The bright star near the nebula's center stimulates both nebula types. This star has not yet completely formed; it is still gravitationally contracting and is less than 10 Myr old. The star's classification is as a type "Ae/Be" star, where this notation indicates we do not know if it will become a Type A or Type B, primarily because it still lies deeply embedded in its maternal cloud.

Processing Description:
Almost half of the images were too noisy to use. The camera also appears defective, showing distinct horizontal bands that span the entire image. If the exposures were the same in number but twice as long per sub, they might be better able to reach fainter detail, and fewer might have to be rejected out of hand.

The main image (A) is SHO mapped to their approximate true colors, and the stars were color calibrated, an imperfect process with the reduced palette available from true-color SHO. Nonetheless, the image has some minimal merits.

Image B starts as an AI "dream" of Image A, an AI creation by DreamStudio in response to the prompt, "An old, fractured skull, hdr, hd, detail, texture," with the request to retain about 50% influence from Image A. DreamStudio's output was then simply blended with Image A to produce the somewhat macabre Image B: "Universe 2."

But why stop there…let's visit the dystopian Universe 3. Image C is the dreamed image described above, but it is not reblended with Image A. Instead, it underwent some color shifts. In the multiverse, perhaps there is a universe where these aurora-like colors occur in deep space and where a transmogrified RCW 2 advantages these colors?

Alex Woronow