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Andy Dungan
10 mi N of Cotopaxi, CO USA
04/18/2023
03:00 am

Equipment Details:

Canon 6D MK II Sigma 150-600C @ 600mm 90 sec f6.3 iso6400--37 light frames
Star Adventurer 2i

Post-processing Details:

Affinity Photo 2 for stacking and processing
StarNet v2 to separate the stars from the image (and for this image I left the stars out)

Image Details:

I had to send this "STARLESS" version of the Eagle (top) and Swan (bottom) Nebulae. All the detail is a result of these nebulae being in the Milky Way. I was astounded after separating the stars and processing at the amount of detail behind (really in front, behind and next to) the stars and Nebula. I was also astounded at the colors. There were a lot of steps to getting this image. Levels, curves, selective color and saturation were the main tools used to get the color. Of course there was some clarity and contrast used also. I hope someday I figure how to get this picture with less noise (not sure I would want to afford or carry around the equipment needed for that). The detail in the Eagle and Swan also astounded me. And, this one was done with a standard 35mm camera and tracker plus software.

The original jpg of this image was 19meg because there is so much detail. I had to save it at lower quality, 9meg, to upload. It's still a really interesting pic because without the stars there is so much detail in the picture. This picture is noisier than the original and some detail/color is lost because of the compression.