M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion (Jari Saukkonen)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Orion (Ori) · Contains: LBN 938 · LBN 939 · M 78 · NGC 2064 · NGC 2067 · NGC 2068 · NGC 2071 · VdB59 · VdB60

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M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

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M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

22.5 hours of exposures, 24GB of raw image data (calibration frames excluded) and almost 200GB of intermediate files

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The M78 complex is a very interesting area with different kinds of astronomical objects from dark to reflection and emission nebulae, Herbig-Haro streams and much more. Processing such a mixed jumble was not easy, due to the insane dynamic range in the image. In the bright end the reflection nebulae saturate and lose colour very easily while at the same time the dark wisps require a delicate balance between noise (reduction) and details. I think this is the first non-HDR stack I've worked with that needed 24-bit STF in PixInsight in order to not posterize the background!

Anyhow, I'm very satisfied with the end result. Please see the revision for more context around the area! Which framing do you prefer?

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Title: Uncropped frame with some Barnard's Loop

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8779428
PixInsight job	PECLG0VVHB7XELXL0UE5GQLSYLRXSW4N
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h46m29s.96
RA (top/left)	05h45m08s.79
RA (top/right)	05h45m09s.20
RA (bottom/right)	05h47m51s.22
RA (bottom/left)	05h47m51s.21

Dec (center)	-00°02′19″.4
Dec (top/left)	+00°28′07″.4
Dec (top/right)	-00°32′39″.2
Dec (bottom/right)	-00°32′40″.3
Dec (bottom/left)	+00°28′10″.8

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M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

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M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

M78 Complex: A Dark Rift in Orion

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