Narrowband Nirvana

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Tadpole Nebula

Tadpole Nebula

Heart Nebula

Heart Nebula

Eagle Nebula

Eagle Nebula

Leafy Sea Dragon Nebula

Leafy Sea Dragon Nebula

Maybe there is someone out there that has done more narrowband (NB) imaging than Don Goldman, aka Astrodon (link below). But I don’t know who that would be. And when you consider that Don has created the NB filters that many of us use, I think it is safe to say that he is the narrowband guru. Check out Don’s website below and see all the amazing NB imaging he has done in the southern hemisphere remotely! Amazing productivity! Don has inspired me to try my hand at NB over the years and a few of my newly processed images are above. Previous images can be found at my website links below. As Don points out in his tutorials, NB has real advantages including enhanced structural detail, able to use in light polluted sites and allows imaging when the Moon is up (especially SII and Ha). NB also helps tame the many bright stars that often populate the centers of emission nebula such as those on the Lagoon and Eagle Nebulae! Fun stuff! Don goes the extra step of adding RGB stars to his NB images. I may adapt that technique in the future for my NB images.

All of the above images were obtained with H-alpha, SII and OIII filters 40 minute subs processed Hubble palette (SII – red, Ha – green, OIII-blue) using clipping masks in Photoshop. The Heart Nebula is 40 total hours 1X1, Tadpole Nebula is 20 total hours 1X1 and Eagle is 10 hours 2X2. The “Leafy Sea Dragon Nebula”, or so I call it, is a re-oriented crop from the center of the Heart Nebula including Melotte 15. When it comes to creativity with NB processing, the sky is the limit!

http://astrodonimaging.com/ — Don Goldman’s website — see Tutorial #9 on NB processing which Don presented at the 2009 Chiefland Star Party!!

https://underwater.com.au/image/id/9885-leafy-seadragon/ – leafy sea dragon = psychedelic sea horse

http://www.williamsseaandsky.com/?page_id=2203 — Bubble Nebula NB

http://www.williamsseaandsky.com/?page_id=2243 — Pacman Nebula NB

http://www.williamsseaandsky.com/?page_id=2659 — Pelican Nebula NB

http://www.williamsseaandsky.com/?page_id=2248 — Lagoon Nebula NB