War and Peace and Cat's Paw Nebulae

So these guys are a bit low in the sky, even from my remote site in Texas. But I decided to give them a try anyway. I ended up shooting in narrowband and using the Foraxx palette mix, and then added in RGB stars. Some updates to the Hocus Focus plug-in in NINA seem to have improved what was already some pretty nice focusing performance, so things were nicely sharp even that low in the sky. I have not made up the summary on total number of frames, etc. etc. but this was made from 14 hrs and 53 mins of data. Posted here first for some feedback, as I have 2 versions and wanted to hear which might be preferred. They are the same except that the 2nd one has the black level raised a bit to bring out some more of the faint nebulosity between the 2 main nebulae. War and Peace Nebula (NGC 6357) is in the upper left with the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) in the lower right.

Version 1:



Version 2:



Any feedback, comments, or questions are most appreciated.

ML

From a non-astro photographer perspective I prefer the second image since it seems to show more continuity across the frame. Cool imaging.

AlanLichty said:

From a non-astro photographer perspective I prefer the second image since it seems to show more continuity across the frame. Cool imaging.

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Thanks Alan, I am leaning towards that one too.

ML

So cool Mike! It's great to see some new images from your Remote setup. I like them both a lot.

JimFox said:

So cool Mike! It's great to see some new images from your Remote setup. I like them both a lot.

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Thanks Jim! With all my traveling and some poor weather it has been a while, but seemingly godd conditions starting up now so I hope to have more images out soon.

ML

Both great images Mike, but prefer the second overall, as you say you have more of the background nebulosity in that one. The War and Peace nebula reminds me of the Balrog in from Tolkien's LOTRs!

Andy Elliott said:

Both great images Mike, but prefer the second overall, as you say you have more of the background nebulosity in that one. The War and Peace nebula reminds me of the Balrog in from Tolkien's LOTRs!

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Thanks Andy! Yes, I DO see that resemnblance too!

ML