Heart & Soul Nebulae at 264mm from Bortle 8 - HOO Processing
This post showcases a detailed look at the Heart and Soul nebulae, captured under challenging Bortle 8 light-polluted skies. The image utilizes the HOO narrowband palette, offering a unique and vibrant rendition of these celestial wonders. Following a more traditional 'straight out of the camera' approach, this HOO-normalized processing presents a more challenging yet rewarding perspective.
Acquisition Equipment and Details:
Achieving such detail from light-polluted skies requires careful planning and execution. Here's a breakdown of the equipment and integration time used:
- Mount: Skywatcher 150i Wave mount
- Telescope: Askar SQA55 f/4.8
- Camera: ASI2600MC (Gain 100, Offset 50, Cooled at -10°C)
- Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate HaOIII
- Sub-exposures: 209 x 300s subs
- Total Integration Time: 17 hours 25 minutes
- Sky Conditions: Bortle 8 (SQM ~17.80)
Processing Workflow:
The journey from raw data to the final image involved a meticulous processing workflow, leveraging powerful tools like PixInsight and Lightroom:
- Stacking: Weighted Batch Pre-processing (WBPP) in PixInsight, with drizzle x1, square function, and drop shrink size set to 0.9.
- Background Extraction: Dynamic Background Extraction (DBE).
- Sharpening: BlurXterminator.
- Stretching: Statistical stretch.
- Star Reduction: StarXterminator, followed by SCNR on the star mask.
- Narrowband Processing: DBXtract and Narrowband renormalization.
- Color and Contrast Adjustments: Curve transformations.
- Final Touches: Lightroom for further color refinement, denoising, and recomposition.
A Deeper Dive into the Colors:
Getting the colors 'just right' in narrowband astrophotography is often one of the most challenging aspects. The aim here was to achieve a visually pleasing saturation without overdoing it, which can easily happen when working with the intensity of Ha and OIII data. The HOO combination allows for a unique interpretation of the emission nebulae, highlighting specific ionized gases in a striking manner.
This processing approach demonstrates that even from less-than-ideal skies, stunning results can be achieved with the right equipment and a dedicated processing pipeline.
