The Horsehead has been one of my absolute favorite targets for many years. I realized I hadn't really shot it this year, and it was about to start setting on me. I've had so many other projects going I just didn't get around to it. I decided to shoot a close-up with the RC10 at f/8, or 2000mm.
There's a crazy diffraction artifact due to Alnitak which is out of frame to the left. I'll have to look at the scope to see why that has cropped up. I haven't seen it in anything else I've shot with that scope lately. I do use a mask on the baffle since the GSO scopes are a little under-designed in this respect. I don't think this caused that effect, and it cured issues I had previously with my close-up of the Flame Nebula and the same star.
But Alnitak gonna Alnitak. I decided to go with it, because the alternative was to toss the data.
The collimation on the RC10 is looking good. I'm pleased with that as we close in on galaxy season.
The color here is... ok, it's weird.
I only shot Ha and Sii because that's the time I had, and the Moon was bright. And there's not a ton of Oiii here anyway.
The combo is basically H[HS]S, meaning the green channel is a blend of Ha and Sii. Beyond making IC434 red as it was meant to be
I like that this rendered NGC2023 below and to the left of the Horsehead something close to its true color. I guess a lot of Sii shows through there. Someday I'll shoot LRGB here to capture that nebula accurately.
I didn't do any funky hue adjustments here, just played with the saturation (a lot) which is why what should be white stars have blue halos. I didn't bother to fix it. This image is just here to make me happy.
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