StarTools

First time imaging M8 with my 8” Carbon Newt , 2600MM and Antlia 3nm filters. The Oiii filter is noticeably affected by moon glare, very noisy subs.
My previous 6” metal tube newt use to fit the whole of M8 perfectly in the FOV but this bigger scope with longer focal length only fits around 85% of the main structure.

Captured over 2 nights ( 10 hours integration)
Waxing Moon 89% to 95%
Seeing conditions average to good
Bortle 8 City suburban skies
8”f5 Klaus Helmerich Carbon fibre Newtonian Reflector
Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount
ZWO 2600MM cooled to -10C , Gain 100
ZWO 7x2” EFW
ZWO EAF
Orion 60mm guide scope with helical focuser
ZWO 120MM guide scope
PHD2 Multistar guiding ( total error avg 0.50 to 0.60 arc sec )
Antlia 3nm Filters
Ha 61 x 5min dithered subs
Oiii 32 x 5min dithered subs
Sii 31 x 5min dithered subs
Darks frames from Library
Flats Ha , Oiii and Sii
Flat Darks Ha, Oiii and Sii
Analysed , Calibrated, Stacked and Aligned in ASTAP
Processed in Startools V1.8 via Compose
Colour HST / SHO preset with saturation and colour bias adjustments
Didn’t capture RGB stars , instead used Startools Shrink module with a Star mask and adjusted colour taming and halo extend parameters. Not perfect but Stars are good enough for me considering it’s an SHO palette.
Used my Astro pedestal fan again on both nights blowing air over the Newt as dew formed early , it kept the mirrors clear all night till the early hours.

Quite pleased with the level of detail in the final image considering condition's

SHO version
HOO version

Astrobin link for full resolution of SHO version …..
https://www.astrobin.com/hezbta/

Thanks for looking
Comments welcome
Martin

Here’s my basic ST 1.8 workflow for the SHO version for those interested

M8 Lagoon Nebula under Full Moon
SHO version

Compose
Load data set
Sii use R (stacked 31 x 5 min calibrated and aligned subs)
Ha use G (stacked 62 x 5min calibrated and aligned subs)
Oiii use B (stacked 32 x 5 min calibration and aligned subs)
Use L+Synthetic L from RGB,RGB
Linear

AutoDev for inspection only

Bin 71% adjust to exact using slider

Crop edges for stacking artefacts

Wipe NB default

AutoDev final stretch

ROI x1 1033 pixels
ROI x2 3328 pixels
ROI y1 33 pixels
ROI y2 2851 pixels
Ignore fine detail. 2.0 pixels
Detector gamma 1.0
Outside ROI influence 5%
Shadow Linearity 50%

Skip Contrast

HDR Tame 1.06

Sharp Amount 350%, High SNR 85%

SV Decon , create extra sensitive mask , tidy up mask and Grow once , 12 samples, Sampled iterations 15x , Deringing Amount 0.95, Deringing Detect 90% , Deringing Fuzz 26.0 pixels

Skip Superstructure

Colour SHO (HST) Use matrix 50Sii+50Ha,50Ha+50Oiii, 100Oiii
Style Artistic Not detail aware
Saturation Amount 200% default
Bright Saturation 5.0
Dark Saturation 3.0
Highlight Repair 9 pixels
RGB Ratio , CIELab LR
Red Bias default 1.0
Green Bias 9.50
Blue Bias 4.00

Mask,Auto, Do , Filter Sensitivity 1
Grow then Tidy up
Save

Shrink ( for Star colour correction only ) , keep Mask
Iterations 0
Mode Tighten
Colour Taming 6 pixels
Halo Extend 2 pixels
Keep
Mask Clear

Track/ Noise Reduction
Apply Noise reduction
Grain Size 3.5 pixels
Next
Keep

Save image to folder / file

Clear Skies
Martin