Horsehead LDN 888 Horsehead

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Date: September 10 - September 14 , 2007
Exposure: HaLRGB - 270m : 140m : 105m : 135M : 210m
9 x 1800s Ha, 14 x 600s L, 7 x 900s R, 9 x 900 G, 14 x 900s B
Processing: CCDAutoPilot3 used to collect data over multiple nights. Maxim DL/CCD for image acquisition, CCDStack on a x64 Vista machine for Image calibration, Astrodon LRGB filters (15 flats each L,R,G,B, Bias subtracted and Sigma Clip combined, 25 bias frames Sigma Clip combined, 15-1800s darks Sigma Clip combined), alignment, normalization, FITS master files creation, and RGB raw TIFF creation. Photoshop CS2 for final HaLRGB processing, final layers adjustment and jpg conversion for the website.
Conditions: Good to Excellent, Mag 6-7 Skies
Scope: FSQ-106N
Camera: Apogee U16M, -20°
Comments: South mount (Sierra-Remote Observatories - http://www.Sierra-Remote.com ). This was Steve Mandel's OTA, camera, and mount (Paramount ME, FSQ-106N, Apogee U16M, Astrodon LRGBHaSIIOII filters and a Takometer Rotator, FS-60C guidescope, and SBIG 402 guide camera). This was taken over multiple nights. I tried a different technique for adding the Ha data. I added the Ha and the Luminous with the Ha data at 50% opacity. This was used as a Luminous layer to the RGB in the lighten mode at 40%. With just a little tweaking and saturation boost, the color didn't go salmon and it held the star colors very nicely.