Scope: ST80 f/2.5; Location: Del Mar CA; 7 Mar. 2004; Camera: ToUcam SC3
Exposure: 24 x 6 sec Luminance exposures with Baader IR Block Filter; 8 x 150 sec H-Alpha exposure, 16 x 8 sec RGB
Processing: All exposures captured in K3CCDTools. Alignment and stacking was done with Registax and saved as
FITs. HA, and LRGB channels were co-registered in Astroart. Artificial flat fielding of each channel was done in
Astroart as well as final scaling and rough color balance.
HA and IR were combined for Luminance. HA and Red combined for red. These combinations
were done in Photoshop. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering (or
LLRGB). Color balance was done in Photoshop. SGBNR was used for background
noise reduction.
This was a guided exposure. The clarity of this image is a bit disappointing -
not sure about the causes. This image replaces an earlier yet image taken
in Mar 2003 that can be seen
in the Archives
Here. Horizontal FOV is 84'