Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in Orion 17 Nov and 12 Dec 2017

[The Thing]

Wooeee! Even if I say so myself. 162x120s @iso800. Beta 2.9 of GIMP handles 32bit TIF straight from PixInsight and convert to JPG without any effort. Thoroughly recommended. The linked image is full size.

Processing: Batch Pre-Processing with lower sigma settings for Lights stacking, Photometric Colour Calibration, Dynamic Background Extraction, Asinh Stretch, Local Histogram Equalisation, Asinh again, Multiscale Median Transform, and in Gimp Non-linear transform (a sort of noise reduction). 

Image date, time and location:   2017-12-12 23:00 Manche, France
Telescope aperture and focal ratio:   TS1506UNC f4 Newtonian, TS Komakorr corrector
Camera and filters used:   Canon 1100d defiltered, Astronomik UV-IR filter
Processing applied:   Pixinsight, GIMP

[MarkH]

Wow that's even better Duncan, you'll be rivalling Hubble soon.😀

[MarkS]

Looking really good now!

Without reading the description I could already tell that some kind of Multiscale processing had been applied.  There is a distinct undulating, wavy look about the dust which is difficult to describe.  It needs to be applied in a more subtle way.

I think a result somewhere between version 1 and version 2 would work really well.  You have really good quality data there.  It gives you a great opportunity to experiment with various processing techniques.

Mark

[Carole]

Amazing what you can do with good processing skills and good data.  I am inclined to agree with Mark that something in between this and your first process would be my preference.

Carole

[NoelC]

Just amazing Duncan.

[The Thing]

Last version I swear. Less Multiscale Median Transform in PI, then sharpening, noise reduction and curves with a bit of extra saturation applied in Gimp.

I have looked at other deep images of this subject on the web and this one looks good to me as far as dust and gas goes. There are a few artefacts e.g. ghost spikes, diverging spikes and so on, I think I need to tweak the scope a bit to sort them out. It's a bit annoying that the spider vanes don't line up with the RA/DEC oriented camera i.e. not square to the focuser. New XWO ASI294MC Pro camera will arrive Wednesday (explains the weather) and I'll use that with the spikes oriented nicely. Also I have a thin OAG coming which will remove flexure and improve star shape overall. Shame I can't get a sky clearing attachment to go with it!

[Carole]

It's a bit annoying that the spider vanes don't line up with the RA/DEC oriented camera i.e. not square to the focuser.

I prefer them at a slight angle, I think square on will look a bit boring.

Carole

[NoelC]

Lovely image Duncan
Really fascinating detail.
You are the Gimp Miester.
Can't wait to see what you do with the 294!

[Carole]

You've certainly made a lot of progress this year, I think the faster scope has made a lot of difference.

Carole 

[Fay]

Well done Duncan, glad you are pleased with your results, makes it worth the effort|!!

Fay

[The Thing]

Thank you for your kind comments everybody. Happy New Year!