alaabedewi
Sh2-155 - The Cave Nebula
Collaboration between myself and Ahmed Wegdan. Inspired by Tim Schaeffer and the Deep Sky Collective's dedication to capturing elusive celestial objects, and their collaborative approach and attention to detail that have pushed the boundaries of what amateur astronomers can achieve. Fueled by inspiration and a passion for astronomy we set our goals on one of the harder and lesser imaged known celestial objects; Sh2-155 was a perfect candidate.
Armed with a rich Egyptian astronomical heritage, Pyramids Obelisks, and Thousands of camels I embarked on a journey into the depth of time ..... uhm wait what? ... darn you Chat GPT, bad AI..
The overall plan was for Ahmed to image in NB from Bortle 4-5 while I capture sort of a broadband-ish data using the Antlia-Quad filter from my home.
We quickly revised the plan and decided that I should capture my data using a dual narrowband filter instead.
Our rigs were perfectly matched, His fra600 with a reducer and a 2600mc pro and my Fra400 with a Poseidon M have almost identical Image scales and FOV, which made stacking much easier.
We live to learn, and learn we did, there is always something new to try, or some way you can improve and producing this image can be easily described as a learning experience.
The amount of data that we threw away, would otherwise make a decent image, but we were not going for decent, we were aiming for great. We each went through each sub multiple times and stacked multiple times over and over until we were finally satisfied that the data was improving with every new addition.
We must have come up with at least 29 drafts, using several techniques. Alaas we, had to produce a final version, so we agreed to combine multiple reversions together to get the best of ALL worlds. I think the result will speak for itself. Our final image, characterized by its exceptional detail and overall aesthetic, is a testament to our efforts.
The data was acquired over the course of 41 days from 2 different locations. A Whopping total of 170 hours. We then microscopically discarded a ton of data, to make sure we have the best of the best, at the end the final integration time was about 84 hours, composed of:
30h 40m dual narrowband (Ha/OIII)
24h 45m of OIII
12h 20m of SII
13h 50m of Ha
3h 4m of Luminance
1h 48m of Red
1h of Blue
1h of Green
We hope this image not only showcases the beauty of SH2-155 but also reflects our passion and dedication that was poured into its creation.
------------------------------------------------
Setup 1:
ASKAR FRA400
Poseidon M Pro
ZWO AM5
Setup 2:
ASKAR FRA600
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO AM5
------------------------------------------------
Stacking in Astro Pixel ProcessorProcessing done in Pixinsight and Photoshop
Sh2-155 - The Cave Nebula
Collaboration between myself and Ahmed Wegdan. Inspired by Tim Schaeffer and the Deep Sky Collective's dedication to capturing elusive celestial objects, and their collaborative approach and attention to detail that have pushed the boundaries of what amateur astronomers can achieve. Fueled by inspiration and a passion for astronomy we set our goals on one of the harder and lesser imaged known celestial objects; Sh2-155 was a perfect candidate.
Armed with a rich Egyptian astronomical heritage, Pyramids Obelisks, and Thousands of camels I embarked on a journey into the depth of time ..... uhm wait what? ... darn you Chat GPT, bad AI..
The overall plan was for Ahmed to image in NB from Bortle 4-5 while I capture sort of a broadband-ish data using the Antlia-Quad filter from my home.
We quickly revised the plan and decided that I should capture my data using a dual narrowband filter instead.
Our rigs were perfectly matched, His fra600 with a reducer and a 2600mc pro and my Fra400 with a Poseidon M have almost identical Image scales and FOV, which made stacking much easier.
We live to learn, and learn we did, there is always something new to try, or some way you can improve and producing this image can be easily described as a learning experience.
The amount of data that we threw away, would otherwise make a decent image, but we were not going for decent, we were aiming for great. We each went through each sub multiple times and stacked multiple times over and over until we were finally satisfied that the data was improving with every new addition.
We must have come up with at least 29 drafts, using several techniques. Alaas we, had to produce a final version, so we agreed to combine multiple reversions together to get the best of ALL worlds. I think the result will speak for itself. Our final image, characterized by its exceptional detail and overall aesthetic, is a testament to our efforts.
The data was acquired over the course of 41 days from 2 different locations. A Whopping total of 170 hours. We then microscopically discarded a ton of data, to make sure we have the best of the best, at the end the final integration time was about 84 hours, composed of:
30h 40m dual narrowband (Ha/OIII)
24h 45m of OIII
12h 20m of SII
13h 50m of Ha
3h 4m of Luminance
1h 48m of Red
1h of Blue
1h of Green
We hope this image not only showcases the beauty of SH2-155 but also reflects our passion and dedication that was poured into its creation.
------------------------------------------------
Setup 1:
ASKAR FRA400
Poseidon M Pro
ZWO AM5
Setup 2:
ASKAR FRA600
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO AM5
------------------------------------------------
Stacking in Astro Pixel ProcessorProcessing done in Pixinsight and Photoshop