The Wizard nebula NGC7380 – narrowband experiments with gilding

Observation Notes

I never really liked the Hubble/SHO palette, the physicist in me just cannot cope with Halpha being green... I thus always preferred the more natural HOO palette, but it lacks the 3rd dimension in the color space. Foraxx used to be an ok compromise, and is quite nice to enhance contrast, but never really was happy. And then I saw @Adam Block's YouTubes on the method of gilding (basically adding SII via image blend where it is strong - so essentially a HSO type of technique), and I really like the idea - and start playing with some recent data on the wizard nebula NGC7380, and it is really nice how SII marks the transitions between different ionization areas - neat! ok, SII isn't green either, but I am more comfortable with that as a less common ion than with the omnipresent Halpha in green. And since I was experimenting, I also worked out the glow of the bright parts of the Wizard nebula with Orton effect (basically screening the image with a blurred (and slightly brightened) copy. Like with many new toys, possible somewhat overdoing it (the SII enhanced regions could be narrower) - well we will see ...

Data were taken on 2024 September 4,5,6,7, and 14.

Technical Details

View the full-resolution image together with complete acquisition and processing details on AstroBin.