The North America Nebula (NGC 7000)

Robert Nik

54833

Deep Sky

Feb 7th, 2026

432

NGC 6996NGC 6989NGC 6997NGC 7000IC 5070

Resolution:: 4544x3401 px
File size:: 9384 KB

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Photo description / processing

I kind of missed it—the last color object shot with a monochrome camera. The hydrogen data is, of course, collected in abundance. But its color overwhelms all the others. For now, let it stay like this. Upd: I remembered there's no L channel in this stack, so I removed it.

Technical information

Telescope/Lens: Sharpstar 76 edph f4.5
Camera: Zwo 1600mm
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Guide Scope: 30/120
Guide Camera: Zwo 178mm
Software: Pixinsight

Location: Мозырь, Беларусь

Light pollution

Yellow, Bortle 5 zone

Date taken: Feb 7th, 2026

Exposure

17 × 60″ · ISO/Gain: 139 · R
55 × 60″ · ISO/Gain: 139 · G
42 × 60″ · ISO/Gain: 139 · B
120 × 180″ · ISO/Gain: 139 · H

Total exposure: 7 h 54 m

Comments

poppy8micro

Try reducing the number of frames for the red channel, or stretch the blue and green channels separately, then gradually stretch the red channel a bit.

Feb 8th, 2026

Robert NikReply to poppy8micro

Well, you can see how much of each channel was captured there) Honestly, I don't think it can be beaten, and I don't feel like drawing...

Feb 8th, 2026

poppy8microReply to Robert Nik

I think the issue here isn't about honesty, and yes, we all essentially "paint" the data—how could we not? The point is that we need to blend the three channels not in exact proportions per frame, but according to the signal level of the gas. If one gas emits faintly on its own, then its signal should be given more weight.

Feb 8th, 2026

poppy8microReply to Robert Nik

As in two-shot cameras. When you combine everything, the difference in signal between different interpolation channels turns it into mush, and then we extract color from that mush. Here it's the same, only the interpolation is done manually when combining the channels.

Feb 8th, 2026

poppy8micro

Try also performing alignment to a reference frame before pixel math, matching all other frames to the brightest red one—I can’t recall what this is called in PixInsight. In Siril, it’s called linear matching.

Feb 8th, 2026

Robert NikReply to poppy8micro

Exactly, I could have applied linearfit...

Feb 8th, 2026