A Giant 'E' in Space - The E-Nebula

The E-Nebula is a pair of dark nebula (B142 and B143) in the constellation of Aquila.  E.E. Barnard described and designated these two nebula as B143 (northern region resembling a square with a missing side) and B142 (southern region).  These two nebula together form a giant "E" in space with an apparent size equivalent to that of a full moon and is some 2000 light-years from Earth.  The interstellar cloud that makes up the nebula stands out well against the heavy star field and like all molecular clouds can reach temperatures low enough where different types of stable molecules can exist.  I can't get over all the stars in this region and this is after some tar reduction.  Most of them appear yellowish but I suspect they are being masked a bit by the vast amount of gas and dust.

This image would have been a lot easier to process had I just collected more RGB data in place of the luminosity data.  The luminosity looked good on its own but when I combined it with the RGB the stars seemed more bloated.  However, the luminosity did enhance the dark nebula slightly and reduced the noise a bit.  I created an RGB mask for the stars and combined the luminosity to the rest of the image.  I am OK with how it turned out but if I were doing this again I would just collect more RGB and skip the luminosity altogether.   

B143 - The E-Nebula
Home Monroe, CT
Date: 8-25-19, 8-26-19, 8-29-19
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
f/7
Focal Reducer: Astro-Tech 0.8x Focal Reducer/Field Flattener for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: L 104 x 60s, R 61 x 60s, G 57 x 60s, 57 x 60s
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 17 C
Post Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop
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