IC 434

[Jules]

Hi

My take on the IC 434:

Equipment WO FLT 110, Lodestar, EQ6, QSI 583wsg , Maxim DL, Astrodon 5nm Ha and OIII filters

3.5 hours Ha
5.5 hours OIII

MaxinDL acquisition and calibration
Pixinsight processing

Star alignment
Integration with linear fit clipping
Deconvolution on each image, OIII and Ha
Create 3rd image with pixelmath blend of OIII/Ha
Background Neutralisation
Channel combination
Dynamic Crop

Multiscale median transform
Colour combination

Histogram transformation
HDR multiscale transform
Curves Transformation
Local histogram equalisation

Then used the Ha as a Lum on the RGB

Thanks for looking and have a great New Year!

[marekc]

That's a really nice image, Jules!

I am particularly impressed with how small your stars are. They don't overwhelm the image at all. That includes the brightest star in the image - is that Alnitak?

I wonder why you have such nice small stars - do you think it's mostly due to your optics, or your processing? (Either way, the result is very nice.) I wonder if using the Ha as the Lum layer helped to keep the stars from getting too big?

- Marek

[Jules]

Hi Marek

Thank you for your positive comments.

As much as I would like to take the credit for the size of my stars, I think the truth is that I have some good optics and PI is such a good bit of software.

Yes, Alnitak is very strong in the OIII region, however using linear fit clipping in integration seems to tame it.

Also the QSI 583 camera is very good in the anti-blooming department.

Happy New Year

Julian

[Howard]

Hi Julian:

That is a lovely wide field shot of the Horsehead and Flame. The textures leading back from the Horsehead to the Halpha curtain in the background are very striking, as is the impression of depth looking down into the Flame.

You choose to leave in some of the background noise, which works well here, especially in a wide viewing of the field, adding an almost imperceptible grain which accentuates the sense of depth of field across the huge canvas. I tend to overcompensate in noise reduction almost as a reflex, which is something I see I need to experiment with.

Best regards,
Howard.

[Jules]

Howard

Thank very much for your positive comments. I have have been experimenting with noise reduction for a while. I think most of the time I over compensate which leaves a very smooth image.

Your comments are very interesting about noise reduction on this image. I think I am going to have to get some more OIII data and try and improve the SNR.

All the best

Julian