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New Year, old target that I felt like I could never get right. Enter the L-eNhanced filter by OptoLong and I feel a lot better about my efforts on this target. I originally processed the data like I normally would – stack in DeepSkyStacker then go straight into processing with Photoshop. However, a friend on Instagram began experimenting with Astro Pixel Processor and separating out the Ha and Oiii channels (possible with a filter like the L-eNhanced) and so I decided to follow suit and I like the results A LOT on this California Nebula data.

The orange / yellow version uses more of a SHO type palette while the red / pink version uses a more typical RGB palette. I love them both, however the yellow image is probably my favorite. I did the same type of processing with Heart Nebula data as well. I plan on doing a post that goes over the idea of separating these channels when using a dual band filter as well as share some of videos that covered how to do it. I will of course include photos!

Equipment & Stats

Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Canon EOS Ra
Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer/Flattener
Optolong L-eNhanced
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (Guide)
ZWO ASI224mc (Guide)
PHD2 for guiding, APT for capturing, APP for stacking/processing, Photoshop/Topaz for final processing

60 x 180s subs
20 dark frames
50 flat frames
50 dark flat frames
50 bias frames