Lower's Nebula SH2-261 x 2

[Andy Nowlen]

Here in the valley, I have been REDUCED to practicing post-processing skills. I need to do this anyway, so I should be glad I have the time. :<(
This image has data from February 2021 and February 2022. It has been a good exercise in combining data from different sessions and scopes.

The combined data began its non-linear life as a result of Bill Blanshan's HSO normalization process in Pixinsight. Enjoy!

Scopes - FSQ106n @535mm, Sharpstar 76mm reduced at 335m.
~7 hours integration - about 60% FSQ and 40% Sharpstar
Mount - CEM40
Controller - AsiAir
Focuser - EAF
Filter - L-enhance, L-Extreme
AstroPixel Processor
Pixinsight
Photoshop

 

[Alisa]

This is cool!

 

[Ben Egbert]

A. Beauty

 

[AlanLichty]

You don't have a filter for rain?

Sweet result.

 

[JimFox]

I can sympathize with you, if I get clear skies, the wind is blowing at 40mph, so I haven't been out in a couple of weeks. You sure made the most of your time. You did a great job combining the data. and I really like the look of this one Andy.

What are you using APP for?

 

[Andy Nowlen]

I can sympathize with you, if I get clear skies, the wind is blowing at 40mph, so I haven't been out in a couple of weeks. You sure made the most of your time. You did a great job combining the data. and I really like the look of this one Andy.

What are you using APP for?

Thank you Jim, I use APP to stack the sub-frames. Then the initial crop or batch crop. Then - the APP light pollution/gradient removal tool is really excellent! One APP user on Youtube called it black-magic, it is so good. Then, if I know I am going to work on the image in Photoshop, I create a stretched tif file. The basic stretch functions in APP are easy. So I end up with a fits file and a tif file. Most of the time the stretch on the tif file is as good as, or sometimes better, than I get in PIX. Of course with the fits I can totally start over if I want to.

 

[Dan Moorehead]

Wonderful

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice detail and color.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Andy,

Very nice, lovely palette mix. I have not seen many using APP but do here good things. Looks like you are getting excellent usage out of it for sure.

ML