A 3-panel mosaic of dust in the Chamaeleon region

This was one of the most difficult images that I’ve had the pleasure of processing, but I really think that the end result was worth all the trouble. Telescope live doesn’t really filter the data they publish, so most of the data I end up with is really hard to work with. This has an upside, though – I get a lot better at handling sub-optimal data! These datasets also weren’t meant to be a mosaic, so I had to do a lot of bludgeoning using photometric mosaic to create something that I could work with.

The way the dust and the reflection nebulae cover this entire region is just simply incredible – the sheer depth of nebulae in this region is amazing. I particuarly like the wispieness of the dust in the center of this image, and the way it’s lit by the stars around it.

The Chamaeleon complex is a large star forming region (SFR) at the surface of the Local Bubble that includes the Chamaeleon I, Chamaeleon II, and Chamaeleon III dark clouds. It occupies nearly all of the constellation Chamaeleon and overlaps into Apus, Musca, Carina and Octans. The Chamaeleon I (Cha I) cloud is one of the nearest active star formation regions at ~160 pc. It is relatively isolated from other star-forming clouds, so it is unlikely that older pre-main sequence (PMS) stars have drifted into the field. The Chamaeleon I (Cha I) cloud is one of the nearest active star formation regions at ~160 pc. It is relatively isolated from other star-forming clouds, so it is unlikely that older pre-main sequence (PMS) stars have drifted into the field. “Chamaeleon III appears to be devoid of current star-formation activity.” There are two particularly prominent nebulae associated with this area. The smaller is commonly known as the Thumbprint Nebula[8] and the larger The Talon Nebula.

Image:

Full-quality image here: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52935022968_8f896f629d_o.png

Annotated image:

Full-quality image here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Chamealeon_mosiac_Annotated.jpg

Details

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED
Camera: FLI PL16083
Filters: Astrodon LRGB 2GEN
Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Yass, NSW 2582, Australia
Date of Observations: 1/26/2022, 1/31/2022, 2/3/2022, 2/5/2022, 2/8/2022, 3/4/2022, 4/4/2022, 4/5/2022, 4/10/2022, 4/23/2022, 4/24/2022, 4/30/2022, 5/1/2022,  5/8/2022, 
L: 48 x 600s (8h)
R: 48 x 600s (8h)
G: 49 x 600s (8h 10min)
B: 48 x 600s (8h)
Processing: Pixinsight
Credits: Data: Telescope Live; Processing: William Ostling

Processing

Creation of Integrated Master Frames:
- Images were cosmetic corrected for hot pixels
- The subframes were weighted, registered, and normalized integrated
in WBPP

- The cnannels were manually integrated and drizzled
Preparation of master frames:
- Stacking artifacts were cropped
- RGB channels were combined to create an RGB image
- RGB image was plate solved
- Starless DBE was applied to L, RGB as follows:
      - Starnet 2 was applied to a clone of the target image, creating an image with stars and an image without stars
      - DBE was applied on the starless image to create a background model
      - The background model was subtracted from the stars image
Creation of the Mosaic:
- Master frames were platesolved
- Alignment through Mosaic By Coordinates
- Stitching done using photometric mosaic (a lot of trial and error!)
More Linear Preparation:
Deconvolution of the L, RGB
- a PSF was created using the dynamic PSF process
- Linear starnet was applied to create a starless image and a star mask
- the linear image was duplicated, stretched, clipped, and convoluted to create a mask
- The starless image was deconvoluted using the RVC algorithm
- the stars were added back in
- DeepSNR noise reduction was applied to RGB
 and L
- A starless and stars version was created using starnet2
Non-linear Adjustments
- GHS stretch
- LRGB combination
- SCNR
- Histogram adustment
- Saturation Adjustment
- Star addition using relinearzation technique
- Star reduction