This last month has been stupid clear, so I've dumped a ton of exposure time into this nebula while waiting for other targets to come up. The spikes are not really part of the nebula, they are artifacts from the light from the bright core diffracting around the spider vanes in my telescope. It is possible to do some [HDR imaging ](https://www.reddit.com/r/astrophotography/comments/c04o5j/ngc_6543_the_cats_eye_nebula/ )and bring out details in the core region, but I kinda like how it looks blown out, at least compared to my older pic (also decided not to incorporate the older data into this one and just start fresh).
Also for those who don't see the cat's eye, it's inside of the [blown out core region in the middle](https://i.imgur.com/nxoXcgT.png) (photo from Hubble)
Captured over 11 nights in October, 2022 from a Bortle 8 zone
**Places where I host my other images:**
[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/leftysastrophotography/) | [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/people/leftysastrophotography/)
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**[Equipment:](https://i.imgur.com/ejpKkwU.jpg)**
* TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
* Orion Sirius EQ-G
* ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
* Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
* ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
* Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
* Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
* Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
* ZWO ASI-120mc for guiding
* Moonlite Autofocuser
**Acquisition:** 44 hours 18 minutes (Camera at Unity Gain, -15°C)
* Ha - 228x360"
* Oiii - 215x360"
* Darks- 30
* Flats- 30 per filter
**Capture Software:**
* Captured using [N.I.N.A.](https://nighttime-imaging.eu) and PHD2 for guiding and dithering.
**PixInsight Processing:**
* BatchPreProcessing
* SubframeSelector
* StarAlignment
* [Blink](https://youtu.be/sJeuWZNWImE?t=40)
* ImageIntegration
* DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
* DynamicCrop
* DynamicBackgroundExtraction
* NoiseXTerminator per stack
* STF applied via HT to bring each image nonlinear
**Combining Channels:**
* Pixelmath to make RGB image using [ForaxX's HOO palette](https://thecoldestnights.com/2020/06/pixinsight-dynamic-narrowband-combinations-with-pixelmath):
> R= Ha
> G= ((Oiii\*Ha)\^~(Oiii\*Ha))\*Ha + ~((Oiii\*Ha)\^~(Oiii\*Ha))\*Oiii
> B= Oiii
**Nonlinear:**
* LRGBCombination with extracted L as luminance, used for small scale chrominance noise reduction
* MultiscaleLinearTransform for large scale chrominance noise reduction
* Shitloads of CurveTransformations to adjust lightness, saturation, contrast, hues, etc. with various masks
* NoiseXTerminator
* LocalHistogramEqualization
* More Curves
* EZ star reduction
* NoiseGenerator to add noise into reduced star areas
* Even more curves
* ColorSaturation to desaturate some unnaturally red stars
* Resample to 60%
* Annotation
lefty7283
