Undoubtedly, this nebula has been the most difficult and complex target I’ve ever processed. As a significant region within a dwarf galaxy experiencing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, it produces an extremely strong signal across the entire spectrum. Given my Bortle 7 skies, I concentrated my capture on three specific narrowband filters: SII, Ha, and OIII.
After experimenting with several color palettes to no avail, I ultimately achieved the desired result using an L(HS)OO palette. To construct it, I created the luminance (L) channel by averaging all three filter sets, and the (HS) channel by averaging the Ha and SII data.
The processing involved individually stretching each channel and applying masked HDR transformations to each one. This approach preserved tremendous depth and detail in the core, which later allowed for exceptionally clean star removal after the palette was assembled—leaving no stellar residuals in the central region. Following this, I completed the image with the standard PixInsight workflow.
I truly hope the two months invested in this project have been rewarded in the final image.
Setup: askar 80PhQ f/5.7, ASI533 MM, 7nm S, H, O Optolong filters, Sky bortle 7.