I have been working on my workflow for OSC Narrowband using the Askar SQA 55 and the 2600MC Pro. I drizzle 2X and then Resample down 2X to the native resolution after DBE and BlurXT.
I use Bill Blanshan’s SHO Colorization script. In this case I used a pallet that combines the SII to HOO.
My biggest challenge has been the stars. These were the SHO stars but I plan to add RGB stars later this month.
Interested in a critique on how the stars look.
IMHO they all look good
The stars look very nice. Rev H looks great.
Did you use the synthetic RGB Stars script?
bigCatAstro · Dec 6, 2025 at 02:49 AM
The stars look very nice. Rev H looks great.
Did you use the synthetic RGB Stars script?
Thanks! I use Bill Blanshan’s script combines the linear SHO stars into the NB image.
My biggest challenge was processing the undersampled image. I drizzled 2X the ran Auto DBE, BlurXT and then resampled down to the native resolution before further processing.
Dave Stearn · Dec 6, 2025 at 04:10 AM
bigCatAstro · Dec 6, 2025 at 02:49 AM
The stars look very nice. Rev H looks great.
Did you use the synthetic RGB Stars script?
Thanks! I use Bill Blanshan’s script combines the linear SHO stars into the NB image.
My biggest challenge was processing the undersampled image. I drizzled 2X the ran Auto DBE, BlurXT and then resampled down to the native resolution before further processing.
Awesome, well, it looks great. Good job!
I don't if my comment is relevant, but I use a slightly different approach :
Kill the stars and process the nebula stuff then
Either use the star pattern from multiband with SPCC to restore the original colors
Or (better) use a full Osc image with shorter exposures to have a full color star field SPCC then optionally kill the nebulae
Final blend starless plus stars with the ~ trick
alpheratz06 · Dec 6, 2025, 07:33 AM
I don't if my comment is relevant, but I use a slightly different approach :
Kill the stars and process the nebula stuff then
Either use the star pattern from multiband with SPCC to restore the original colors
Or (better) use a full Osc image with shorter exposures to have a full color star field SPCC then optionally kill the nebulae
Final blend starless plus stars with the ~ trick
this is also the workflow I adopt too
alpheratz06 · Dec 6, 2025 at 07:33 AM
I don't if my comment is relevant, but I use a slightly different approach :
Kill the stars and process the nebula stuff then
Either use the star pattern from multiband with SPCC to restore the original colors
Or (better) use a full Osc image with shorter exposures to have a full color star field SPCC then optionally kill the nebulae
Final blend starless plus stars with the ~ trick
When I capture the RGB stars then I will process the RGB image and combine the RGB stars into the starless NB image. The current image was all NB so I combined the NB stars using the script. My main concerns were regarding the shape of the stars. The colors will be best using RGB stars.
The star shaps look great, even with extreme pixel peeping which is what you have to do to even make a judgement.
Tony Gondola · Dec 6, 2025 at 02:43 PM
The star shaps look great, even with extreme pixel peeping which is what you have to do to even make a judgement.
I agree, the SQA55 is pretty spectacular with nice star shapes.
Sorry Dave, to me they look over processed.
Why do I say that? I was looking at some of your other images and if you notice the stars do vary in sizes and color and intensity.
In this case, to my eyes the stars look too small.
Beautiful image! But you asked about the stars and that’s what I think.
SonnyE · Dec 8, 2025 at 08:22 PM
Sorry Dave, to me they look over processed.
Why do I say that? I was looking at some of your other images and if you notice the stars do vary in sizes and color and intensity.
In this case, to my eyes the stars look too small.
Beautiful image! But you asked about the stars and that’s what I think.
More likely due to the wide field view of the SQA55.
Star colors look nice. I assume that is what you are asking about? Or something else?
I like to blend my SHO stars with a custom PM to make nice gold and blue stars. You can use this math. It’s also a good blend option for narrowband in general.
R=.4*Ha + .6*Sii
G=.4*Oiii + .3*Ha + .3*Sii
B=Oiii
Chris White- Overcast Observatory · Dec 9, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Star colors look nice. I assume that is what you are asking about? Or something else?
I like to blend my SHO stars with a custom PM to make nice gold and blue stars. You can use this math. It’s also a good blend option for narrowband in general.
R=.4*Ha + .6*Sii
G=.4*Oiii + .3*Ha + .3*Sii
B=Oiii
Thanks, The colors and the star shapes. I use Bill Blanshan’s PM script which combines the linear nb stars using a similar formula but you can also adjust star size and saturation.
Hi Dave,
IMHO, and as a pure aesthetic consideration, the stars are too small to me. If this is what you intented to achieve, that’s good and your image is really beautiful but have you tried with the field stars shining a little bit more ?
Clear skies, Frédéric