NGC281 Pacman Nebula
I had only recently purchased some narrow-band filters and was keen to give them a test run; for this, I chose NGC281. The aim was initially to capture data in LRGB along with Ha, OIII, and SII; the telescope and weather had other plans. I hadn’t looked at the data since the initial night, and using a process in Pixinsight inspired by Cuiv’s recent mastering Pixinsight YouTube video, I was able to bring together this HOO image of the nebula; it is a target that I plan to revisit this winter to capture more Ha and OIII, along with LRGB and SII data.
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an HII region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus arm. This 20×30 -sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184,[3]spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin.[4] A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22Ghz in 2014 is estimated to be 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us.[5] Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Source: Wikipedia
Imaging session: December 1st, 2023
Sky quality: Bortle 5 (approx.)
Mount: iOptron CEM40G
OTA Imaging: Skywatcher 120ED with x0.85 flattener, f6.35, 768mm
Camera: ZWO ASI533MM Pro, Cooled to -10 deg C
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW
Focuser: Primaluce Lab ESATTO
Rotator: Primaluce Lab ARCO
Guiding: iOptron iGuide, 120mm: 2.9um
Computer: Primaluce Lab Eagle Pro 2 + ECCO2 (Environment)
Light Exposures:
Luminescence .. 10 x 90s
Ha........... 9 x 300s
OIII......... 9 x 300s
Calibration files:
BIAS .......... 25
Dark .......... 25
Flat .......... 25
Dark flat ..... 25
Total integration time: 1.75 hours
Processing
Pixinsight -> Topaz Denoise -> Photoshop
Center (RA, Dec): (12.999, 56.667)
Center (RA, hms): +56° 40' 01.687"
Center (Dec, dms): 00h 51m 59.764s
Size: 47.8 x 47.7 arcmin
Radius: 0.563 deg
Pixel scale: 2.02 arcsec/pixel
Plate solved at nova.astrometry.net
NGC281 Pacman Nebula
I had only recently purchased some narrow-band filters and was keen to give them a test run; for this, I chose NGC281. The aim was initially to capture data in LRGB along with Ha, OIII, and SII; the telescope and weather had other plans. I hadn’t looked at the data since the initial night, and using a process in Pixinsight inspired by Cuiv’s recent mastering Pixinsight YouTube video, I was able to bring together this HOO image of the nebula; it is a target that I plan to revisit this winter to capture more Ha and OIII, along with LRGB and SII data.
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an HII region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus arm. This 20×30 -sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184,[3]spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin.[4] A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22Ghz in 2014 is estimated to be 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us.[5] Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Source: Wikipedia
Imaging session: December 1st, 2023
Sky quality: Bortle 5 (approx.)
Mount: iOptron CEM40G
OTA Imaging: Skywatcher 120ED with x0.85 flattener, f6.35, 768mm
Camera: ZWO ASI533MM Pro, Cooled to -10 deg C
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW
Focuser: Primaluce Lab ESATTO
Rotator: Primaluce Lab ARCO
Guiding: iOptron iGuide, 120mm: 2.9um
Computer: Primaluce Lab Eagle Pro 2 + ECCO2 (Environment)
Light Exposures:
Luminescence .. 10 x 90s
Ha........... 9 x 300s
OIII......... 9 x 300s
Calibration files:
BIAS .......... 25
Dark .......... 25
Flat .......... 25
Dark flat ..... 25
Total integration time: 1.75 hours
Processing
Pixinsight -> Topaz Denoise -> Photoshop
Center (RA, Dec): (12.999, 56.667)
Center (RA, hms): +56° 40' 01.687"
Center (Dec, dms): 00h 51m 59.764s
Size: 47.8 x 47.7 arcmin
Radius: 0.563 deg
Pixel scale: 2.02 arcsec/pixel
Plate solved at nova.astrometry.net