LDN 1584 / Cederblad 51 in RGB with Hα and Sii Added

[Mike Lewis]

So this one was a new object that I was not initially familiar with. This active star forming region in Orion hosts a number of dark nebulae in addition to the blue reflection nebula (Cederblad 51) located at the rough center of the image. Dark dust lanes weave through and ionized Hα and Sii clouds backlight the region, highlighting the star forming activity. This area is part of the larger Sharpless 2-264 (Sh2-264) molecular cloud, also known as the "Lambda Orionis Ring" or "Orion's Head".

As promised, the processing chain utilized the Veralux stretching script for the first time. It produced very nice colorful stars, but I had trouble getting the exact results I wanted with it. Stretching with the stars included produced colorful stars but a somewhat oversaturated yet muted result in the nebula areas. Stretching without the stars gave me lots more signal and contrast, but tended to want to blow out bright areas, and required settings that were VERY different from the default settings to get results I liked. More experimentation required. I eventually layered 2 versions in Photoshop to get a result I liked the best. I took all 3 NB channels but the Oiii data was basically non-existent, and so I ended up just adding in the Hα and Sii signals to the RGB. I sed the NarrowbandHueCombination script for this. I have recently started playing with that one and it seems to do a decent job of adding NB data to RGB data IMHO.

So as always, thanks for looking and let me know what you think in the comments....

Larger AB version is here: https://app.astrobin.com/i/4wpd3z

Equipment:
Poseidon-M Camera @ -5C and
Gain:125 Offset:25
Astro-Physics Mach2 Mount
Williams Optics Cat 91 Refractor, 448mm @ f/4.9
Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus RGB)
Askar FMA180 Guide scope with ASI290MM

Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.9
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
N.I.N.A. Control Software
BlurXTerminator (Russell Croman)
StarXTerminator (Russell Croman)
NoiseXTerminator (Russell Croman)
Astro-Physics APCC and APPM

Light Frames:
Gain 125 / Offset 25
Red: 23 x 300 secs (1 hr 55 mins)
Green: 21 x 300 secs (1 hr 45 mins)
Blue: 25 x 300 secs (2 hrs 05 mins)
Hα: 26 x 900 secs (6 hrs 30 mins)
Sii: 25 x 900 secs (6 hrs 15 mins)

18 hrs 30 mins total

Dark Frames:
10 x 300 secs (50 mins)
10 x 600 secs (1 hr 40 mins)

 

[AlanLichty]

Fantastic result - can't say I can follow what you did to process this but it sure looks nice to me.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Fantastic result - can't say I can follow what you did to process this but it sure looks nice to me.

Thanks Alan - it is always worth it when the final result comes out the way you like

ML

 

[JimFox]

Hey Mike, I sure like the result, but it looks like a lot of work to get there. I haven't tried the Veralux script yet, but with so many trying it, I need to try it as well, though I am thinking it may be a few more updates before it's worth really using?

This is also one I haven't imaged yet, but by the look of it sure would like to.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Hey Mike, I sure like the result, but it looks like a lot of work to get there. I haven't tried the Veralux script yet, but with so many trying it, I need to try it as well, though I am thinking it may be a few more updates before it's worth really using?

This is also one I haven't imaged yet, but by the look of it sure would like to.

Jim,

I would say you should try it. Like everything else in astro-post-processing-land, it is all very subjective. Results that I might not be satisfied with you might be completely happy with. It is definitely another tool in the toolbox as they say. And, in spite of no preview capability as of yet, it is relatively easy to try out. I personally will be using for star stretching much of the time I expect, as I do like the way it renders stars. And I think it is too early to write it off just yet. But you may be right that it could continue to be refined as time goes on too - we will have to see.

ML