Standard RGB image
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1024 x 768

1600 x 1200

            
RGB Hydrogen Enhanced
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This enigmatic
            object very much resembles its type galaxy, the Large Magellenic
            Cloud. Spanning 16 arcminutes in size, this galaxy has an integrated
            magnitude of 9.3 and is classed as an IB(s)m type. On its northern
            end at the top, we can see a host of emission objects including
            small bubbles of hydrogen. The brightest and by far most interesting
            is the pair on the upper right, MCG-2-50-2, 3. The large bubble
            is listed as 1.1 arcminutes and 14.2 magnitude in Megastar. Inside
            you can see the hot blue star that excites it.

            
The Enhanced Hydrogen
            image on the right dramatically reveals the dynamic process of
            star formation are still active in this Local Group outlier.
            Half a dozen bubbles of ionized hydrogen glow many of them with
            hot blue stars in their very centers. The two nebulosities to
            the upper right, MCG-2-50-2, 3 are spectacular in deep hydrogen
            and show many internal details in the largest images. It has
            only been in recent years that such detail can be photographed
            by small amateur telescopes such as this. 

            
This part of the
            sky is still strongly influenced by the dust of the Sagittarius
            core region. Once the brown veil of dust was equalized out, the
            true colors of the stars and galaxy came out beautifully. This
            image is the start of a series which will include more hydrogen
            data as the skies permit.

            
Processing notes:

            
The image on the
            left is a standard unbinned RGB set, with full color resolution.
            About 2h of additional Ha data was taken the next night, and
            combined with the technique I will be going into detail about
            at the next AIC conference. Essentially, the Ha data was combined
            and then the R channel subtracted to remove the stars. The result
            is an image of the nebula only, which was then screened in Photoshop
            over the R,G,B data at 100%, 10% and 5% to produce the perfect
            pink Hydrogen mix.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling
Guider: Meade DSI Pro  w/Lumicon Newt Easy Guider
Exposure:  RGB = 40:40:40  Ha = 110m
AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio:  1: 1.05: 1.11
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 6 arcsec (Maxim DL - 10min subframe), Transparency 7/10
Outside Temperature:  65 F
CCD Temperature:  -30 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL:  Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking
Gralaks Sigma:  Stacking
PixInsight:  Curves, Deconvolution, noise reduction
Photoshop CS2:  Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup

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