NGC 6946 and NGC 6939 with Celestron Origin


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 September 2, 2026

I’m continuing to test the  Celestron Origin Mark II ‘Intelligent Home Observatory,’ which Celestron loaned me to use for a while. I had first light with it on August 17, and have used it on the rare clear nights since. 

Tonight I was comparing saving individual raw frames vs. Origin stacking them automatically.  I compared the stacked image produced automatically by the Origin vs. calibrating and stacking the individual sub-frames amyself in PixInsight. The two approaches produced results that were indistinguishable. However, results with manual stacking and Drizzle processing were considerably better.

I am really looking forward to getting some really long exposure times using the equatorial wedge and autoguider.

To see information about the objects in this image, have a look at my 40+ hour shot using the Esprit 120.

Tekkies:
Acquisition, focusing, and preprocessing by Celestron Origin. 10-second unguided exposures acquired under good transparency and seeing in a moonless sky on Sept 1, 2026. All exposures were 10s. Total exposure times:

193 x 10s = 32m10s, calibrated, aligned and integrated with 2X Drizzle

Image scale:  0.6 arcsec per pixel

Finder Chart:
 
Data Reduction and Linear Processing

Gradient Removal: DynamicBackgroundExtraction was applied to the RGB master.

Colour Calibration: ColorCalibration was applied to the RGB master.

Deconvolution: BlurXterminator was applied to the RGB master with Automatic psf , star sharpening set to 0.5, and non-stellar set to 0.9. 

Linear Noise Reduction: NoiseXterminator was applied with settings Amount=0.9 and Iterations=4.

Stretching:  MultiscaleAdaptiveStretch was applied to make a pleasing image with background brightness approximately 0.1. 

Nonlinear Processing

Noise Reduction: NoiseXterminator was applied to the RGB master with settings Amount=0.9 and Interations=4.

Supplemental Stretch: HistogramTransformation was used to darken the black point and brighten the main galaxy.

Initial Saturation Boost: CurvesTransformation’s saturation tool was used to boost colour in the galaxy in the starless RGB image. A range mask made with RangeSelection was used to protect the background.

Nonlinear Noise Reduction: NoiseXterminator was applied to the RGB image with settings Amount=0.9 and Iterations=5. 

Contrast Enhancement: LocalHistogramEqualization was applied twice using a mask to select the main galaxy. Contrast Limit of 1.5 and 1 iteration (scale 150, strength 0.25, and scale 40, strength 0.35). 

Sharpening: BlurXterminator was applied (no star reduction, no halo reduction, manual psf=3, amount = 0.1) to the galaxy, using a mask to protect the background.

Star Restoration: Stars were added back into the image using the PixelMath expression combine(starless, stars_only, op_screen())

Final Steps: Background, galaxy, and star brightness, contrast, and saturation were adjusted in several iterations using CurvesTransformation with masks as required. Excessive star haloes were dimmed slightly with CloneStamp. ICCProfileTransformation (sRGB IEC61966-2.1; Relative Colorimetric with black point compensation) was applied prior to saving as a jpg. The finder chart was made using the FindingChart process. The annotated image was made with the AnnotateImage script.