M16_combine_HOO_final_Stretched Cropped PS

Eagle Nebula (M16), 07/09/2020

 

We had a new moon and clear skies at the same time last weekend so there was no way I was passing up that opportunity. I hooked up the RV, kissed my wife goodbye, and headed to the hills to catch some photons! Things mostly went well, mostly. As I started to setup my gear at dusk, I realized I had forgotten a critical usb cable. This meant I needed to huck all the expensive equipment into the RV and run into town. This was a two-hour round trip to Wally World and back. Then re-setup the telescope and let it run into the wee hours of the night.

 

This is the Eagle Nebula, an object I have shot several times before, but this time I used a fancy light pollution filter. This filter makes it possible to process the data in a simulated Hubble Telescope color palette. Short explanation is that the filter separates the hydrogen-alpha (red) and the oxygen-III (blue) light-wavelengths into separate color channels during image processing.

 

The Eagle Nebula is a 5.5-million-year-old cloud of molecular hydrogen gas and dust stretching approximately 70 light years by 55 light years. It lies about 6,500 light-years away. The “Eagle” itself in the center is the famous Hubble image, “The Pillars of Creation”.

 

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-eHhance filter

 

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground

Bortle Class 3

Gain 120

65 120-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

StarNet++

Lightroom

Photoshop

 

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