IC 434 Horsehead Nebula in Ha LRGB

[Startrek]

First capture of IC434 the Horse head Nebula in Ha LRGB at my Observatory under B3 Skies.
Captured over 4 short nights ( 28th and 29th December 2024 and 21st and 27th January 2025 )
Summer so far on the East Coast of NSW has been plagued with cloudy nights with very limited windows of opportunity for imaging or observing.

Location : South Coast NSW Australia , NexDome Observatory
New Moon Period
Seeing conditions fair to average ( Stars scintillating )
Skies : Bortle 3
Scope: 10" f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon Fibre Newtonian
Mount : Skywatcher EQ8-R Pro
Imaging Camera : ZWO 2600MM , cooled to -10C , Gain 0 for LRGB and Gain 100 for Ha
ZWO 7 x 2" Filter Wheel ( Antlia LRGB filters and Antlia Ha 3nm Filter )
Orion 60mm guide scope with Helical focuser
ZWO ASI290MM Guide camera
Goto and Tracking EQMOD and Stellarium
Aquisition and Capture APT
Guiding PHD2 Multistar ( Guiding was poor and chasing the seeing 0.75 to 0.90 arc sec )
Data
Luminance 84 x 60 sec subs
Red 41 x 60 sec subs
Green 39 x 60 sec subs
Blue 43 x 60 sec subs
Ha 83 x 2 min subs
All subs dithered
Total integration approx 6 hours
Full Calibration Suite
Darks from Library
Flats for Ha LRGB
Flat Darks for Ha LRGB
Data sets reviewed , calibrated , stacked and aligned in ASTAP
Post processing in Startools V1.8 via Compose Module using Ha Accent channel

Quite pleased with the result for only 6 hours of Data and also the star "Alnitak" when imaging with some decent aperture and focal length is a nightmare to tame. The reflection from its rays are really pronounced when using the Green and Blue filters. The Contrast module and Heal module in Startools did a great job again !!

Links to Astrobin below for full resolution…..,

https://www.astrobin.com/ywtuhq/

https://www.astrobin.com/c4w35y/


Comments welcome

Thanks for Looking

Clear Skies
Martin