Astrophotography: 28 hours on the Soul Nebula

[@ianwatson8599]

Great image James. I like the few examples of processing tips. Question, what’s the reason for making a range mask of the colour mask?

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Ian, I find that using a range mask against the color mask gives me more control on mask attributes (Smoothness, intensity, contrast, etc)

[@jlecomte0719]

I love the colors, very harmonious. Another beautiful image. Congrats!

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Julien!

[@sevenskiesastro]

Great image James. Done this one myself. Only 12 and half hours mind. Love the colours. Clear skies bud

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Rob! Yours came out great! CS!

[@Alan-vk6bk]

Brilliant video. Send me some of your clear skies!!!!

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Alan, I'll try!

[@trevsastrophotography]

Hey James! Great image as always! 😃

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Trevor! :)

[@Si-fp2ij]

Lovely image James! I just love the Askar 65 PHQ

[@DSOImager]

Thanks! It's a great little scope :)

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@DSOImager Do have (or have any plans) to get the 0.75 Askar reducer for this scope? I’ve been thinking about it and wondered what you thought? Cheers Si

[@DSOImager]

@@Si-fp2ij For now I don't. Couple of reasons: 1) It defeats the purpose of the petzval design. Without the reducer backspace is not an issue.. flat stars across the whole field. With the reducer we're back to 55mm of backspace.. and then tweaking/tuning to get the field as flat as possible. 2) Looking at the spot diagrams.. the stars take a hit and the color separation gets a little worse. I've seen reviews of other phq scopes.. from the 80 to the 130 and it seems the stars all suffer a little with the reducer. How good the stars are is something I consider a personal taste/tolerance. If speed is more important.. then I think the fra300 or fra400 might be worth a look. If you already have the 65phq.. and you want more speed, the reducer will help.. just know that the stars will not look as good.

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@DSOImager thanks for that James, makes perfect sense! Cheers Si

[@garyrobertson6469]

Excellent. I like how you handle green in your images.

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Gary!

[@davidleejenkins]

Wonderfully done James! I, too, would move on as the mosaic sounds problematic. I am looking forward to your Bin 1 versus Bin 2 comparison.

[@DSOImager]

Thanks David!

[@davewilton6021]

Great video! I'm not sure what you can productively do further with this image. But you could revisit it with the same rig, only rotating the camera 90 degrees. That would get the whole nebula.

[@DSOImager]

Thanks Dave. That is another option. Maybe next year :)