Quickshot: the Western Veil Nebula (NGC6960)
I haven’t been able to image lately for a number of reasons, some just personal crap, but also because the weather here the past few months has just sucked.
This is the Western Veil Nebula, AKA NGC 6960. The framing isn’t great but I don’t trust the rotator when running unattended. It was more intended to get my sea legs back, and my processing is again rusty.
When I look at this the stark red and blue striations always makes me think I should be wearing 3d glasses 
Acquisition Details
- Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2GTO
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106EDXv4
- Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM
The data for this was captured over two nights (September 12 & 13, 2025) gathering 99 unguided subs for a total of a little over eight hours.
Per-filter totals for NGC6960:
- Red: 2.92 hours (35 subs)
- Green: 2.75 hours (33 subs)
- Blue: 2.58 hours (31 subs)
- total: 8.25 hours (99 subs)
Processing details
All processing was done in PixInsight, using several plugins and scripts.
RGB filters
The processing included (see the processing icons here):
- RGB combination via ChannelCombination
- Auto Linear Fit
- GradientCorrection
- SPCC, set up for my astrodon RGB filters and PhotonFlux
- BlurX Full
- NoiseX
- StarX
- Stretched the stars via SetiAstro’s “Star Stretch”
- GHS and a bit of curves to stretch the starless
- Sprinkled the stars back onto the starless image with PixelMath (
combine($T,RGB_stars,op_screen()))
Comparing RGB with and without stars
Move the Blue Slider to see a Comparison
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Image details on Astrobin
