From the APOD: Cradled in cosmic dust andglowing hydrogen, stellar nurseries in Orion the Hunter lie at the edgeof a giant molecular cloud some 1,500 light-years away. Spanning nearly 25 degrees, this breath-taking vista stretches across the well-known constellation from head to toe (left to right). The Great Orion Nebula, the closest large star forming region, is right of center. To its left are the Horsehead Nebula, M78, and Orion's belt stars.  In this 3x8 mosaic of broadband telescopic images, additional image data acquired with a narrow hydrogen alpha filter was used to bring out the pervasive tendrils of energized atomic hydrogen gas and the arc of the giant Barnard's Loop.

Personal notes about the image to be added shortly...

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DATE October 7~10 and 12~14, 2010 PHOTO Exposure: 4x8 mosaic. Each frame: L: 3 x 5', RGB: 3x3' each, Ha: 1 x 15' Total: 28 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Imaging Scope: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS CalStar @ Lake San Antonio, Near Dinosaur Point, Henry Coe State Park and DARC Observatory, California Seeing: Average to very good Transparency: Poor to very good SOFTWARE Stacking: PixInsight Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop

Sometimes, when you're at it processing an image with certain goals in mind, in order to solve a particular problem, you make the wrong decision or take the wrong step. Often, the smart thing to do is to back off and try again. Some other times, you move forward and "hammer" the image again and again, as if one bad processing decision could be fixed by another one. This may work sometimes, but if you're not careful, you end up overcooking your image.

This is one of such images :-)

Captured last October at Lake San Antonio (California) during the first couple of darkness hours over 4 the nights I spent camping there during Calstar, it's a 2x2 mosaic of the area around the Iris nebula in Cepheus. The biggest challenge here wasn't so much to reveal the molecular clouds, not nearly as evasive as high galactic cirrus, but to do so with a "foreground" swarm of stars. Although I think I managed to successfully keep the stars from overwhelming the scene, I feel the dusty structures are a bit too much "in your face". You can see them, but can you "feel" them? Frame adaptation was also challenging, despite all frames were captured under similar, fairly dark skies (only the 1st night wasn't as good, but I retook that data on the 4th night, so that doesn't count).

In any case, it otherwise is a gorgeous field.

The nice touch was perhaps the red arch on the right area of the image, identified as SH2 133, which certainly adds a nice touch to the scene, otherwise dominated by dusty molecular clouds. The Ha also seems to extend further from the clearly visible arch, as if it was cradling 6 Cephei, the bright blue star on the left of the arch that also seems to illuminate some reflective dust around it.

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DATE October 7th, 2010 PHOTO Exposure: 2x2 mosaic. Each frame is L: 6 x 10', RGB: 6x5' each, Total: 10 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Mount: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS Lake San Antonio, California Seeing: Good Transparency: Good SOFTWARE Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop

Text from NASA's APOD for this image:

An alluring Comet Hartley 2 cruised through planet Earth's night sky on October 8, 2010, passing within about a Full Moon's width of the famous double star cluster in Perseus. The much anticipated celestial photo-op was recorded here in a 3 frame mosaic with greenish comet and the clusters h and Chi Persei placed at the left. The well-chosen, wide field of view spans about 7 degrees. It extends across the constellation boundary into Cassiopeia, all the way to the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) at the far right. To capture the cosmic moment, a relatively short 5 minute exposure was used to freeze the moving comet in place, but a longer exposure with a narrow-band filter was included in the central and right hand frames. The narrow-band exposure brings out the fainter reddish glow of the nebula's atomic hydrogen gas, in contrast to the cometary coma's kryptonite green. In the past few days, comet watchers have reported that Hartley 2 has become just visible to the unaided eye for experienced observers from dark, clear sites. On October 20, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth, passing within about 17 million kilometers.

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DATE October 7th, 2010 PHOTO Exposure: 3 panes mosaic. L: 5 x 5', RGB: 3x3' each, Ha: 15 x 1' Total: 2.5 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Imaging Scope: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS CalStar @ Lake San Antonio, California Seeing: Very Good Transparency: Good SOFTWARE Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop