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Cygnus area in RGB

Cygnus area in H-alpha

Cygnus area in RGB+Halpha

 

The first picture above consists of 194 one minute RGB-pictures giving a total exposure time of almost three hours and fifteen minutes. It was taken with a Baader modified Canon 40D at IS0800. These pictures was stacked and calibrated with Darks and Flats  in MaximDL. The resulting stacked image was processed in PhotoShop CS2 to obtain the first picture you see above. By clicking the image above you can follow the processing steps in PhotoShop CS2.

The second picture consists of 65 three minute exposures using a Baader H-alpha filter, giving a total exposure of three hours and fifteen minutes. These pictures was also stacked and calibrated with Darks and Flats in MaximDL. The resulting stacked image was processed in PhotoShop CS2 to obtain the second picture you see above. By clicking the image above you can follow the processing steps in PhotoShop CS2.

The third picture was obtained by stacking all the calibrated images from the RGB and the H-alpha session above in MaximDL. This will give a picture that is redder than the RGB only picture since the H-alpha pictures mainly affects the red channel. The resulting stacked image was processed in PhotoShop CS2 to obtain the third picture you see above. By clicking the image above you can follow the processing steps in PhotoShop CS2.

The three images at the top was then combined in PhotoShop CS2 to obtain the final image as seen below. By clicking the image above you can follow the processing steps in PhotoShop CS2.