IC 1396 | The Elephant Trunk + (Kevin Morefield)

IC 1396 | The Elephant Trunk +

This is more backyard data with the FSQ106 and QHY600M. There is almost no cropping at all so it just did fit!

Ionized by a massive central star, this is a site where stars have been forming as recently as the last 100,000 years. There are four interesting small objects you may see on full screen or full resolution view:

-PK 100+04.1 is a bright blue planetary just below and the right of the Garnet Star.

-SH2-128 is a tiny, 1 arc minute, emission nebula in the lower left. This was previously erroneously included on the PK list as PK 97 +03.1.

-PK 098 + 2.1 is a tiny (0.11 arc minutes!) blue planetary on the left side. I can only see this on full resolution view.

-Lan 424 -- UV-emission source (not picked up by the plate solve) This is located on the very edge of view in the lower right. Simbad does not give any hint at what it is but is sure looks like a planetary nebula.

The star colors are narrowband as produced by the channel mix. The mix used Ha and SII for Red, OIII for Green and OIII minus SII/2 for Blue. While the star colors produced are nice blues, yellows and reds, they are not perfect. The Garnet star here is yellow and not garnet at all!

Processing steps:

1) Calibration in CCDStack

2) Star Alignment and Image Integration with PI

3) Color Channel Combination with PI PixelMath, Ha[SII/Ha, OIII, OIII-SII/2]

4) StarNet++ star removal

5) Noise Reduction with Topaz AI Clear

6) PS CC Unsharp mask at 3 and 66 pixel scales

7) Hue shifting, curves, contrast vibrance, and saturation with PS CC

8) Stars replace with Lighten layer in PS CC

9) Clarity, hue shifts, in Camera Raw

10) Further noise reduction with PS CC Reduce Noise

Original
Final
B

B

Description: Preparing this for print, I increased brightness and contrast and did some color balance changes. I think this is an improvement.

Uploaded: ...

Pacific Northwest Astrophotographers
QHY Users Group
Narrowband imaging
Takahashi Refractors
Fine Art Astrophotography

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape
Artificial satellite

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
PixInsight job	DD5XRRJSDM1FMPN9ZSV9NSW5VMCEAQJJ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h39m04s.91
RA (top/left)	21h49m25s.65
RA (top/right)	21h47m30s.91
RA (bottom/right)	21h27m42s.94
RA (bottom/left)	21h31m34s.80

Dec (center)	+57°30′12″.5
Dec (top/left)	+55°42′52″.3
Dec (top/right)	+59°30′06″.1
Dec (bottom/right)	+59°13′59″.9
Dec (bottom/left)	+55°28′18″.8

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