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[RCC] OSC to Hubble Processing Critique

Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator One-Shot Color Request for feedback
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Harlan King avatar
Harlan King avatar
Hi everyone,

I’m looking to improve my OSC processing and would love some feedback on how to get better results. Specifically, I’m wondering if it’s possible to achieve smoother color blending, like with a mono camera, instead of the mottled effect I’m getting. Is this something that can be fixed with a different processing technique, more integration time, or adjusting saturation? Or is this just a limitation of processing OSC data as mono?

Here’s the full-resolution image: https://www.astrobin.com/oavkv0/

Details:
  • Scope: Skywatcher 150 PDS
  • Camera: 2600MC Pro
  • Filter: L-Extreme Dual-Band

Processed with PixInsight using:
  • BlurXterminator
  • NoiseXterminator
  • Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch
  • StarXterminator

Starless Workflow:
  • Narrowband Normalization
  • Curves Transformation
  • Masking & Curves Transformation
  • Recombining Stars and Starless Image

Finished with a final curves adjustment.Thanks in advance for any tips!
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Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão avatar
Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão avatar
The image looks really good and the results are a great achivement! Honest! They are.
But where's the Sulphur data? Calling an Hubble Palette image made from an HOO  signal, is not an Hubble Palette. This is my only critique!

The rest is like  I said.. I couldn't do better myself.

Regards,

Cesar
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Harlan King avatar
Harlan King avatar
Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão:
The image looks really good and the results are a great achivement! Honest! They are.
But where's the Sulphur data? Calling an Hubble Palette image made from an HOO  signal, is not an Hubble Palette. This is my only critique!

The rest is like  I said.. I couldn't do better myself.

Regards,

Cesar

Thanks Cesar!

You are 100% correct, there is no Sulphur data - more of a mimicked representation of the Hubble palette.

I'm interested in the Antila S2/Hb filter, but then again, also considering just going full mono at this point. Decisions, decisions.
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
1st off, you haven't got the SNR for such an image scale and amount of stretching (or the aperture for that matter) so my first advice is to halve the image scale (that is bin the original masters) and secondly try with a HOO approach rather than a faked SHO.
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Harlan King avatar
Harlan King avatar
andrea tasselli:
1st off, you haven't got the SNR for such an image scale and amount of stretching (or the aperture for that matter) so my first advice is to halve the image scale (that is bin the original masters) and secondly try with a HOO approach rather than a faked SHO.

Thanks Andrea, I haven't yet experimented with binning. I will do some research!

Agreed - my HOO attempt does look much cleaner when zoomed in.

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Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão avatar
Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão avatar
Harlan King:
andrea tasselli:
1st off, you haven't got the SNR for such an image scale and amount of stretching (or the aperture for that matter) so my first advice is to halve the image scale (that is bin the original masters) and secondly try with a HOO approach rather than a faked SHO.

Thanks Andrea, I haven't yet experimented with binning. I will do some research!

Agreed - my HOO attempt does look much cleaner when zoomed in.



I'll be honest with you. This one if top notch! Much better and my favorite.
Harlan King avatar
Harlan King avatar
Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão:
Harlan King:
andrea tasselli:
1st off, you haven't got the SNR for such an image scale and amount of stretching (or the aperture for that matter) so my first advice is to halve the image scale (that is bin the original masters) and secondly try with a HOO approach rather than a faked SHO.

Thanks Andrea, I haven't yet experimented with binning. I will do some research!

Agreed - my HOO attempt does look much cleaner when zoomed in.



I'll be honest with you. This one if top notch! Much better and my favorite.

You know what, I agree with you.

I guess I should go ahead and mark it as the final revision.
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Álvaro Méndez avatar
Álvaro Méndez avatar
I think both are very nice given the integration time. You want the blue oxygen to show? I don’t see why can’t you use the false SHO version if that is the mapping that gives you that. 

If you want to try to bin your image you just go to Process > IntegerResample and choose downsample by 2. That would give you a more appropriate image scale (since SNR is not strong, there’s no use in having a bigger image because zooming in is not going to reveal more detail).
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Harlan King avatar
Harlan King avatar
Álvaro Méndez:
I think both are very nice given the integration time. You want the blue oxygen to show? I don’t see why can’t you use the false SHO version if that is the mapping that gives you that. 

If you want to try to bin your image you just go to Process > IntegerResample and choose downsample by 2. That would give you a more appropriate image scale (since SNR is not strong, there’s no use in having a bigger image because zooming in is not going to reveal more detail).

Thanks Alvero!

I didn't realize you could set the bin after taking the shot - I assumed you had to do it via camera settings. 

So, so much to learn. .