I was able to finish sooner than expected as we had some clear weather and was able to add RGB data without the moon.
See link for Ha image:
See link for Ha image:
The region around Sadr (γ Cygni), center star in the cross Cygnus, is filled with gas and dust making it a prime location for emission nebulae and camera lenses. Sadr is the bright star in the lower left central portion of the image. The Sadr Region (a.k.a. the Butterfly Nebula or the Gamma Cygni Nebula, or IC 1318) is the diffuse emission nebula surrounding Sadr and is approximately 4900 light-years away. From what I gather it includes the Butterfly but also the surrounding area above Sadr. Other objects in this image include the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) - bright nebula off to the right, M29 (NGC 6913 a.k.a. Cooling Tower) - open cluster on the lower central portion of the image, IC 1311 - open cluster with lots of nebulosity in the upper central portion, NGC 6910 - open cluster just left of Sadr. NGC 4996 - an open star cluster below the Crescent Nebula, and NGC 6914 - an Ha region on the left portion of the image. Numerous other Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) and Bright Nebula (LBN) are scattered throughout this region.
Focusing was a bit easier since I was not using any filters and was able us live view for focusing. I still had to take 5-second exposures in order match up the framing and got it close enough to the Ha image.
I used DSS for stacking since I did not take any flats and I haven't figured out how to have PI stack without flats yet - I read somewhere you have to make synthetic ones. I did bring it into PI to do the normal processing and align the Ha and RGB images. Also, the preliminary combining was done in PI. The color image was separated into individual RGB channels and then used to make the HaRGB image,
The final HaRGB image was made with the following recipe:
Enhanced Red = Ha 70% + R 30% (PixelMath)
New RGB = Enhanced Red + G + B (PixelMath)
HaRGB = Ha 50% Luminosity + RGB (Photoshop)
The was one odd problem that occurred when making the New RGB image. I was doing a series of of trials to determine the optimal combination and joining them with the RGB Combination tool, it worked for one iteration but then when using it again it never recognized the Enhanced Red. Fortunately PixelMath recognized it so I used it. I tried to use the LRGB combination for the final image but this time the Ha image was not recognized so I did the final joining in PS. It is probably some button I pressed that caused this but I worked around it.
I sometimes find these HaRGB combinations difficult trying get the right mix of detail and color. I spent a lot of time adjusting the color/hue similar to the original RGB image yet not over-saturating it.
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 6-11-19, 6-14-19, 6-22-19
Camera: Canon T3i/600D modified
Lens: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal Length: 200mm
Ha f/2.8, RGB f/3.2
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro on a Manfrotto Tripod
Filter: Astronomik Ha 12nm Clip-in
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: Ha 130 x 60s, RGB 171 x 30s
ISO: 1600
Processing: DSS, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
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