Finally finished a long project! This one came in at 55 hours total exposure time, and is faint AF. for reference this is what a [single 10 minute Ha exposure](https://i.imgur.com/SLVsIrZ.png) looks like
Captured over a bunch of nights between December 2022 to February, 2023 from my bortle 8 apartment balcony.
---
**[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:** 55 hours 0 minutes (Camera at half Unity Gain, -15°C)
* Ha - 174x600"
* Oiii - 156x600"
* 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
* StarAlignment
* [Blink](https://youtu.be/sJeuWZNWImE?t=40)
* ImageIntegration
* DrizzleIntegration (2x, Var β=1.5)
**Linear:**
* DynamicCrop
* DynamicBackgroundExtraction
* BlurXterminator (star correction only)
* NoiseXterminator
* MaskedStretch to 0.1 background
* Starnet++ starmask made, subtracted from 0.3 Gray image and colvolved
* Previous image used as a mask to stretch nebulosity without stretching stars
* Repeated previous steps a few times to bring Ha and Oiii images nonlinear
**Nonlinear:**
* PixelMath to Combine monochrom Ha and OiiI images into color image (ForaxX's palette)
> R= Ha
> G= ((Oiii\*Ha)\^~(Oiii\*Ha))\*Ha + ~((Oiii\*Ha)\^~(Oiii\*Ha))\*Oiii
> B= Oiii
* Shitloads of CurveTransformations to adjust lightness, saturation, contrast, hues, etc.
* NoiseX
* ColorSaturation
* minor Histogram Transformations
* more curves
* Resample to 60%
* DynamicCrop in on the nebula
* annotation