Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405), M38 and the Tadpoles

This image is a widefield around the Flaming Star Nebula in the constellation Auriga, that also includes other objects such as the Tadpoles, the M38 cluster (top-left of the image), etc.

I started taking 20x10' of L and 5x5' (bin 2x2) of each RGB. This was last Saturday from the DARC Observatory.

When I started processing it, and as I was trying to pull out the fainter nebulosity, the stars started to dominate the field. I simply couldn't contain them no matter what I did. So on Monday I decided to take a short trip to Montebello and captured 6x20' of H-Alfa, to see if then, with more signal in the nebulosity and smaller stars I could better manage the image.

I added 20% of the processed luminance to the also processed Ha, but I didn't add any Ha to the color - I used only the color information from the RGBs (more on that later). The Ha left the better SNR areas a bit soft but I was much more pleased with the results.

The color was originally a bit unconvincing, so I first did a color calibration by neutralizing the background taking one small area as a reference, and then, selecting an area mainly packed with white-looking stars and balance the whole image assuming the average color of the stars in that selection was indeed white.

The final image presented the often criticized salmon hues, but my goal here wasn't to depict "real" colors, rather, being able to show as many details as possible from the nebulosity that truly expands across the entire field, and doing so while still presenting somewhat approximate (not accurate) color information in the image. As it is, in order to achieve this goal with the data I had collected, the selected method gave me exactly what I wanted.

It's a very interesting field, packed with interesting objects not often seen all in the same image. I hope you like it!

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DATE November 21st, 2009 PHOTO Exposure: L: 20 x 10', RGB: 5x5' each, Ha: 6 x 20' Total: 6.6 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Imaging Scope: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS DARC Observatory    Seeing: Very Good    Transparency: Good Montebello OSP    Seeing: Very Good    Transparency: Average SOFTWARE Stacking: DeepSkyStaker Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop