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That purple nebula photo everyone was sharing? I thought it was fake until I saw the raw data

My buddy kept posting this wild shot of the Rosette Nebula and I swore it was AI or some heavy filters. He finally sent me the unedited stacked frames from his backyard setup outside Phoenix. It was just 2 hours of exposure through a cheap DSLR and a half-broken tracker - the color was actually there in the data the whole time. Now I'm researching how to get those hydrogen alpha bands myself, but I'm worried my light pollution will ruin it. Anyone else had a skeptical moment that got flipped by seeing the raw process?
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terryk10
terryk101mo ago
What light pollution and camera gear are you working with? I'm just north of Tucson with Bortle 5 skies and found that a cheap dual-band filter made a huge difference for catching Ha in my stacked frames. You might be surprised what you can pull out if you stack enough subs, even from less than perfect conditions.
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wadem89
wadem891mo ago
Saw the same thing happen with a friend who brews beer at home. People raved about his stuff until he showed them he just follows the same science as the big guys, but with better ingredients and patience.
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milessmith
milessmith1mo ago
Yeah exactly, @terryk10 and wadem89 are onto the same thing. People just assume you need magic tricks. Good ingredients and patience wins every time.
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