Sh2-261 in Foraxx NB, with RGB Stars

[Mike Lewis]

Sh2-261 (Lower's Nebula) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is often referred to by the name Lower's Nebula, as it appears on a photographic plate taken by amateur astronomer Harold Lower and his son Charles in 1939. The area is being ionized by the O.7.5V runaway star HID 41997.

This is the first time I really committed to taking much more data on the fainter narrowband channels of Oiii and Sii. I processed this in PixInsight with the Foraxx Palette Utility script, which does bring out some bright colors. Comments and critiques welcome, and thanks for looking. I will add a link to the larger size image on Astrobin once this has also been posted there.

Equipment:
QHY268M Camera @ -5C and
Gain:56 Offset:25
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8
Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus LRGB)
QHY OAG-M/ASI290MM

Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
N.I.N.A. Control Software
BlurXTerminator (Russell Croman)
StarXTerminator (Russell Croman)
NoiseXTerminator (Russell Croman)

Light Frames:
Gain 56 / Offset 25
Hα: 32 x 600 secs (5 hrs 20 mins)
Oiii: 63 x 600 secs (10 hrs 30 mins)
Sii: 61 x 600 secs (10 hrs 10 mins)
Red: 21 x 30 secs (10 mins 30 secs)
Green: 20 x 30 secs (10 mins)
Blue: 20 x 30 secs (10 mins)

26 hrs 30 mins 30 secs total

Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs (5 mins)
10 x 600 secs (1 hr 40 mins)

 

[JimFox]

Excellent work Mike, I need to look into that Foraxx script. You got some nice detail and colors. This is one I haven't captured yet.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Excellent work Mike, I need to look into that Foraxx script. You got some nice detail and colors. This is one I haven't captured yet.

Yes Jim, the Foraxx Palette Utility script is very easy to use and gives you another way to get a palette mix. In my experience it seems to prefer stretched master files instead of linear data, but I have found I like that approach better anyway, as it gives you the ability to better balance out your channels during the stretching process, before you combine. If you remove your stars prior to this (or take separate star data like I do) you can still combine and color balance your stars properly too, and combine them back near the end of your processing. And it is a free script too, which is really nice.

ML

 

[JimFox]

Yes Jim, the Foraxx Palette Utility script is very easy to use and gives you another way to get a palette mix. In my experience it seems to prefer stretched master files instead of linear data, but I have found I like that approach better anyway, as it gives you the ability to better balance out your channels during the stretching process, before you combine. If you remove your stars prior to this (or take separate star data like I do) you can still combine and color balance your stars properly too, and combine them back near the end of your processing. And it is a free script too, which is really nice.

ML

Thanks Mike, I will need to look for it, or can you paste the link for it when you get a chance?

 

[Comet Hunter]

nicely done.

 

[Mike Lewis]

@JimFox

If you paste this in to your repository links and then check for updates, you should get it installed:

https://foraxxpaletteutility.com/FPU/

Then once you have that, it is alphabetical under scripts/utilities as the Foraxx Palette Utility. I think the small number if checkbox items are self explanatory, dealing with whether you have 2 or 3 narrowband signals and whether or not you want to process just starless images or images that also have star data...

ML

 

[JimFox]

@JimFox

If you paste this in to your repository links and then check for updates, you should get it installed:

https://foraxxpaletteutility.com/FPU/

Then once you have that, it is alphabetical under scripts/utilities as the Foraxx Palette Utility. I think the small number if checkbox items are self explanatory, dealing with whether you have 2 or 3 narrowband signals and whether or not you want to process just starless images or images that also have star data...

ML

I got it and installed it, thanks Mike!