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Because of the eery shape of NGC 246 being a little like a human skull, it has now become commonly known as the Skull Nebula, and categorised by Sir Patrick Moore as Caldwell 56. The object is in fact a planetary nebula, the remnants of a failed star many years past. You’ll find this object in the constellation of Cetus, with it being roughly 1,600 light-years away from Earth.

 

This image represents only 24% of the cameras full frame, composed of luminance, red, green, blue, oxygen 3, and hydrogen alpha filtered colour channels. Thanks for having a look.

 

Hi res link:

live.staticflickr.com/65535/50685844921_967b9026ea_o.jpg

 

Information about the image:

Center (RA, Dec):(11.840, -11.841)

Center (RA, hms):00h 47m 21.671s

Center (Dec, dms):-11° 50' 26.283"

Size:23.3 x 16.6 arcmin

Radius:0.239 deg

Pixel scale:0.732 arcsec/pixel

Orientation:Up is 206 degrees E of N

  

Instrument: Planewave CDK 12.5 | Focal Ratio: F8

Camera: STXL-11000 + AOX | Mount: AP900GTO

Camera Sensitivity: Lum, OIII & Ha: BIN 1x1, RGB: BIN 2x2

Exposure Details: Total: 61.0 hours | Lum: 64 x 1200 sec [21.33hr], OIII: 37 x 1200 sec [12.33hr], Ha: 64 x 1200 sec [21.33hr], RGB 16 x 450sec each [6.0hrs]

Viewing Location: Central Victoria, Australia.

Observatory: ScopeDome 3m

Date: June-November 2020

Software Enhancements: CCDStack2, CCDBand-Aid, PS, Pixinsight

Author: Steven Mohr

 

The Lower half of Orion from the Bogeyman to the WitchHead. 12 Panel mosaic. Samyang135ASI2600 for RGB Samyang135ASI1600mm for Ha. Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.

Imaged in Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III. Approximately 5.5 hours exposure time, the colour palette is made up from applying Hydrogen to red and Oxygen to both green and blue. A Luminance channel from a blend of both the Hydrogen and Oxygen data was applied over the top of the colour image in Pixinsight.

 

The Astrodon OIII filter has captured the outer Oxygen shock wave nicely.

 

Imaged with an Altair Astro 6" RC and Atik 314l+, processed in Pixinsight and CS5.

6 pane Mosaic using TPO RC 12" and Atik 383L

Processing PixInsight

 

Lunt 60 + Player One Neptune-M + Barlow Antares x1.5

2 pannels

Astrosurface, Pixinsight

IC 4603

LUMINANCE: 150 MINUTES

RGB: 30 MINUTES EACH CHANNEL

TOTAL: 4 HOURS

WILLIAM OPTICS 80 ED II

ZWO ASI 1600 MONO COOLED

PROCESSING: PIXINSIGHT + PS6

 

New version with processing my friend Leandro Fornazieiro

www.astrobin.com/users/leandrof58/

Stack of 40 individual DSLR shots. Sky-Watcher 150P Newtonian. Prime focus, Baader Neodymium filter. PIPP > Registax > PixInsight > Photoshop with colour blend layer from individual raw frame.

Taken w/ William Optics Redcat 51, QHYCCD Polemaster, Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D7500.

 

150 x 90s lights @ ISO 800, ~45 dark, ~80 flat, ~100 bias, stacked in DSS and post-processed in Photoshop & PixInsight

A section of the constellation Cygnus, containing the North American and Pelican nebula.

Tec

Canon T5 Modded w CLS-CCD clip filter.

Canon 200mm Prime f2.8@3.2

Ioptron Skyguider

150 x 90s Stacked in Pixinsight

Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop cc

Taken at Camden Lake

July 24th 2020

 

1st time out with my Askar FRA400 telescope.

Wouldn't quite fit the entire galaxy in to the field of view, so I went for a 2 panel mosaic.

 

M31 lies 2.5 million light years away from us and has two visible dwarf galaxies for companions. They are M32, just above and left of centre and M110, an elliptical galaxy to the bottom centre of the image.

 

Captured at www.astronomycentre.org.uk

 

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Askar FRA400

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong L'eNhance.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+

 

The 2 panels each consisted of 60 lights frames at 120 seconds exposure each. Plus darks, flats, dark flats & bias calibration frames.

All stacked together in DeepSkyStacker and the resulting 2 images were then stitched together and processed further in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

The North America Nebula NGC7000 captured earlier this year using the QHY367 Pro C full frame one shot color 36 Megapixel CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ.

Often ignored in images of The North America Nebula is the immense patch of shadows, the dark nebula LDN 935 appearing prominently (left of center) with the Cygnus Wall (at bottom left) and The Pelican Nebula IC 5070 (at center). The dust from this dark nebula obscures the emission nebula to form the region known as The Gulf of Mexico. This detailed image surely visualizes the nature of dust and gas clouds that populate the universe.

In this Hubble Palette version (SHO) the H-Alpha is mapped to green, SII is mapped to red and OIII is mapped to the blue channel. RGB data was used for the natural star color, while the colors in this image are not the true colors, the narrowband filters used in the making of this Hubble Palette image reveal much more of the hidden gasses not visible in a broadband image, covering an area over 3 x 2 degrees of sky.

 

Captured over 5 nights in May and June 2020 for a total acquisition time of 20.8 hours.

 

View High Resolution Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/hz7qvn/

 

Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates of Capture May 21, 29, June 10, 12, 15 2020

RGB 290 min 29 x 600 sec

HA 495 min 33 x 900 sec

OIII 210 min 14 x 900 sec

SII 255 min 17 x 900 sec

Narrowband Filters by Chroma (5nm)

Camera: QHY367 ProC full frame one shot color CMOS

Filter Wheel: QHYCFW3 Large

Gain 2850, Offset 76

Calibrated with dark, Bias and Flat Frames

Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5

Image Scale: 1.56 arcsec/pix

Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)

EQ Mount: Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC and Starnet.

 

T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED

M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO

C: QHY600M_L

G: Lodestar X2

F: Antlia HA, OIII, SII 3nm

Foc: Esatto 4" Primalucelab

CPU: Eagle-2 Primalucelab

 

Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight

 

Ha:OIII:SIIxT=25:25:25x600"

 

Dumbell nebula, Jul. 20, '25

Celestron Edge HD800, ASI Air Plus, ASI MC Pro

Light, Dark, Flat, Flat Dark

PixInsight, Photoshop

Struggling to get enough data with this awful weather in UK! 40x 300sec subs.

 

William Optics GT81 with ZWO533mc Pro, processed in pixinsight

Quattro 200P, ASI2600MC Pro, ASI Air Plus

Light 120sec, Gain 100, Dark

PixInsight, Photoshop

ASI 294 MC PRO.

72 ED Skywatcher con reductor/aplanador 0.85.

Star Adventurer 2i.

Guiado Asi 120mm Mini.

Ganancia 123 Offset 5 -10ºc

109x120s

L-Pro

Bortle 8.

PixInsight.

NGC6520 LRGB

 

Planewave 17” CDK

Camera: FLI ML16803

Filter: Chroma L,R,G,B

Focuser: IRF90

Focal Length: 2939mm

Focal Ratio: f/6.8

Mount: 10 Micron GM3000

Location: Deep Sky West, Chile

8hh of LRGB data, combination in PixInsight done:

L: 24 x 300sec

R: 24 x 300sec

G: 24 x 300sec

B: 24 x 300sec

 

BlurXTerminator not used.

 

www.deepskywest.com/

planewave.com/product/cdk17-ota/

Andromeda Galaxy in Hydrogen Alpha. The brighter clumps in the spiral arms are star-forming regions similar to The Great Orion Nebula in our own Galaxy. A full color image of Andromeda would appear predominately white in a full color image without any Ha information being added. When added in processing, the Ha star forming regions will appear red.

 

ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro/EFW 2" x 7 (Ha)

Tele Vue NP101is/Large Field Corrector

Losmandy G11

 

Capture in NINA

Processing in PixInsight

Capture TelescopeLive AUS-2 north of Canberra. 15h RGBHS. Processing Jan Zettergren, PixInsight and LR

41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in the body of Ursa Major. x27 10 sec exposures (ISO3200) stacked in DSS and processed in Pixinsight and Faststone. 6D + 85mm f1.4 lens.

NGC7380 or the Wizard Nebula as it is commonly known as, is an emmision nebula in the constelation of Cepheus

 

Image Details:

Acquisition Dates:Sept. 20, 2019, Sept. 21, 2019, Sept. 30, 2019, Dec. 6, 2019, Dec. 9, 2019, Dec. 20, 2019, Dec. 25, 2019, Dec. 31, 2019

 

Frames:

Astronomik Ha 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1

Astronomik OIII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1

Astronomik SII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1

 

Integration: 12.8 hours

Darks: ~101

Flats: ~101

Flat darks: ~101

Avg. Moon age: 15.36 days

Avg. Moon phase: 43.95%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00

 

Equipment Details:

Imaging Scope: Sharpstar Optics 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph Reflector

Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Mono ColdMOS at -20C

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro

Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope

Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Ltd Lodestar X2

Filters: Astronomik 36mm RGB F2.2 Certified

Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW

Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro Ultimate USB Hub

Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso Auto Focuser

Image Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software SGPro

Guide Software: PHD 2

Processing Software: PixInsight

  

Mu Cephei (μ Cep) is a red supergiant located in the constellation Cepheus. With an average apparent magnitude of 4.08, it is the 10th brightest star in the constellation. Also known as Herschel’s Garnet Star and notable for its striking red colour, Mu Cephei is a spectral standard for its class (M2). It is one of the largest known stars, with a radius 1,260 – 1,650 times that of the Sun, and one of the largest stars visible to the unaided eye. Located at an approximate distance of 2,840 light years from Earth, it is one of the most distant stars visible without binoculars.

 

Taken in Early October 2021 with Fujifilm X-T3, Nikkor 85mm F/1.4.

Equipment:

10" f/4 ONTC Newtonian Teleskope

ASI294mmPro

Astronomik L-2

Skywatcher EQ-8 Pro

 

135 x120s Luminanz

45 x 120s red

45 x 120s green

45 x 120s blue

 

total exposure time: 9 hours

 

march 2022

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

Weekend...Check! Clear night...Check! New moon...Check!

So far so good...starting new target...SH 2-101 the tulip nebula. Took some RGB data. Not that much, but almost an hour per channel.

The humidity was so high, my secondary mirror mist up over the night...I have no heater and never used one...I should have put the dewshield on at least.

I will take the h-alpha data later.

 

-- EQUIPMENT ---------------------------

Camera: SBIG STF-8300

Filterwheel: SBIG FW8 (8 x 36 mm)

Filters: Astrodon RGB

Telescope: 10" ONTC Newton w. 2.5" Wynne corr. (1140mm f/4.5)

Mount: Astro-Physics 1100 GTO CP4

Guiding: SBIG OAG with Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2

 

Software

Capturing: Sequence Generator Pro

Mount control: AP V2

Guiding: PHD2

Processing: Pixinsight

 

-- Details -----------------------------------

Date: 30. August 2019

Location: My backyard

Temp CCD: -15°C

Pixel size: 5.4 μm

Pixel scale: 0.93 Arcseconds per pixel

 

-- Exposures ------------------------------

Red: 5 x 10 min

Green: 5 x10 min

Blue: 5 x 10 min

 

Total integration time: 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Visionking 80mm Triplet Ed

24x300

Canon T6

CGEM

 

Pixinsight 1.8

Ps Cs6

Canon 6Da, Samyang 85mm f1.4 @ f4; 63 x 300 sec

Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop Elements 13

The whirlpool galaxy is actually two galaxies interacting with each other. The quite obvious spiral galaxy that is M51 and the much smaller galaxy catalogued as NGC 5195.

First discovered by Charles Messier in 1773, M51 is located 31 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.

Data gathered at www.astronomycentre.org.uk/ on the 18/03/2025.

 

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Skywatcher Quattro 8"

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong UV/IR.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+ using Altair Starwave 50mm & ZWO 120mm mini.

248 light frames 60 seconds each.

Stacked with darks using WBPP in PixInsight.

Processed using Graxpert, StarNet2, PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

Logiciels et plugin utilisés :

Lightroom, AstroPixelProcessor, BlurXTerminator (Merci @h.collis pour le passage dans le plugin de Pixinsight) , PhotoShop (Plugin HLVG, Topaz Denoise)

 

127 lights, 100 offsets, 100 flats, No Dark

There is over 11 hours of imaging time in this image which was captured 31st Dec, 7th Jan and 14th Jan 2016, using the following equipment and software.

 

TS APO65Q Telescope

Atik 490EX CCD Camera

QHY5L Guide Camera on 90x50 finder scope

Baader Ha, OIII and SII narrow band filters.

Artemis Capture.

PHD2 Guiding.

All processing Pixinsight incl stacking (image integration)

 

This image is blended from SII, OIII and Ha filters using the PixelMath component in Pixinsight. The mix is to suit my own taste.

 

The SII has added Ha

The Ha as some OIII added

The OIII is on it's own

 

Thanks to Kayron at www.lightvortexastronomy.com for the wonderful tutorials.

 

I am very pleased with the detail of the data but I feel the stars do overpower and I would welcome any constructive criticism as to what I may be doing wrong (over exposure?) or can do to correct this in processing.

 

Dusty emission in the Tadpole nebula, IC 410, lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation Auriga. The cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across, sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen all around the star-forming nebula. Notable near the image center are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing away from the nebula's central regions. Potentially sites of ongoing star formation in IC 410, these cosmic tadpole shapes are about 10 light-years long.

Distance 30 Mio. Lj

 

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

ZWO ASI 1600mmc

Astrodon LRGB

Losmandy G11/LFE Photo

 

Guding:

Lodestar on TS Optics - ultra short 9mm Off Axis Guider

PHD2

 

RGB per 12x120s

Luminanz 60x120s

 

total exposure time: ca. 192 min

 

20.03.2018

 

Processing: PixInsight/CaptureOne

IC 405 - der Flaming Star Nebel mit seinem Nachbar IC 410 der Tadpole Nebula

 

Konnte kurz vor Saisonende noch knapp 8,7 Std. mit dem Epsilon 130D und der QHY268m drauf halten.

Leider kommen die Quallen nicht so toll raus wie gehofft, denke da hätte noch etwas zusätzliches Schmalband geholfen.

 

Equipment:

Takahashi Epsilon 130ED

QHY268m

CFW3M

Astronomik H-alpha MaxFR

Skywatcher EQ8

 

Februar 2022

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

 

120x180s H-alpha

23x120s red

30x120s green

30x120s blue

 

2,7 Std. RGB

6 Std. H-alpha

 

total: 8,7 hour

NGC7000

 

143h 25min of HSO data from Telescope Live. Processed in PixInsight. Grayscale variant.

 

nova.astrometry.net/user_images/13036628#annotated

app.telescope.live/en

Triplet 115/800

Flattener Reducer: 0.79

ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO

LHARGB #optolong

300 | 240 | 45 | 45 | 45

All frames Bin 1x1 - Gain 111

Total: 675 minutes

PixInsight + PS6

Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in Orion

Horsehead: Barnard 33 in emission nebula IC434 & Flame Nebula (NGC2024 and Sh2-277)

 

Acquisition Date: 12/28/2013

 

Camera: SBIG ST8300M @ -15°C

 

Telescope Stellarvue SV105T (f/7)

 

Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100

 

Guidescope: William Optics 50mm f/4 guiding/finderscope

 

Guide Camera: SBIG STi-M

 

Filters:(Astrodon)

-Hydrogen Alpha (3 nm Ha): 6 x 15min (90min)

  

Limiting Magnitude: 5.1

Comments: Stellarvue SFF7-21 field flattener.

Processed in PixInsight 1.8 and Adobe Photoshop CS5

Optics: Rokinon 135mm f/2

Camera: ASI 585MC

Filters: UV/IR: Baader

Mount: ZWO AM3

Observatory: Hertford, North Carolina, USA

starbase.insightobservatory.com/imageset/299

Integration Time: 11h 15m

Cocoon Nebula IC5146 Caldwell 19

 

Esprit 100ED

Canon 700d

CGEM DX

ISO800 11x360s (1hr 6mins)

PixInsight

 

Resolution ............... 1.592 arcsec/px

Rotation ................. 103.508 deg

Reference system ......... ICRS

Observation start time ... 2023-08-20 23:40:03 UTC

Observation end time ..... 2023-08-21 00:51:53 UTC

Focal distance ........... 557.08 mm

Pixel size ............... 4.30 um

Field of view ............ 2d 18' 11.7" x 1d 32' 14.2"

Image center ............. RA: 21 53 33.574 Dec: +47 17 54.12 ex: +0.019102 px ey: +0.006723 px

 

SSRO- RCOS 16", Alta U9, PlaneWave Ascension 200HR, PixInsight 1.8, ACP, MaxIm DL, FocusMax

Object description at www.billionsandbillions.com

Orion will be leaving us soon ☹ for another season and I’m Just getting around to processing the broadband data from Grand Mesa Observatory on the Horsehead (IC434) and The Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) using the QHY600M monochrome CMOS on the TAK130 and I was so impressed with the luminance data that I decided to share this image, “besides I just love black and white photos”. This is a 56% crop of the original and just 43 x 2 minutes exposures with no noise reduction whatsoever applied to the image for a total integration time of 86 minutes. Also visible in this image in quite good detail NGC2023, IC 435, IC 432, IC 431 and of course the triple star system of the blue supergiant Alnitak is also seen in all its glory with not so much of a halo.

 

We have the honor of testing the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera for QHYCCD.

This setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1. grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment

 

View in High resolution

Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/wpebfr/

 

Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates of Capture December 24th, Jan 6th, 9th 2021

LUM 86 min 43 x 120 sec

Broadband and Narrowband Filters by Chroma

Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version

Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit

Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames

Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5

Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix

Field of View: Field of view 1d 47' 6.3" x 1d 13' 44.9"

EQ Mount: Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing and Starnet in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC

 

 

Scope: Orion Optics VX6 with 1/10 PV upgraded optics

Guide Scope: Skywatcher ST80

Guide Cam: QHY 5 Mono

Mount: Skywatcher HQE5

Camera: Nikon D5100 Modded

Exposure: 18x5 Minute Subs, Darks, Bias & Flats

Technical: 750mm f/5

Software: DSS, Pixinsight, PHD, Nebulosity

This is a combination of 26 subs, one set from April 2020, of 10 x 10 minutes duration and another set of 16 x 5 minutes duration from 2018. All at ISO400. Taken with my 480mm f/6 refractor on a modified Canon 80D.

 

Technical card for 2020 session is in my Backyard Astrophotography Album.

 

I’ve not cropped this, so some background galaxies can be seen in the corners.

 

M81 is a large spiral galaxy in Ursa Major that is reasonably local to us at 12 million light years. Its companion, M82 has been disrupted by an encounter with M81 in the past.

 

M82 is a starburst galaxy with intense star formation triggered by the gravitational influence of M81. The red fan-like filaments at right angles to the axis of the galaxy are formed by a "superwind". The intense star formation has resulted in multiple supernovae explosions occurring about once every 10 years - the explosions power the super wind. The filaments are expanding outwards at about 600 miles a second and glow brightly in hydrogen alpha (red). They are also a very strong source of radio emission, listed as 3C 231 in the 3rd Cambridge catalogue of radio sources.

  

NGC3077 lies top left. It’s classified as a peculiar galaxy and may have interacted with M81 in the past and become disrupted. Some radial dust bands are just visible in this image - couldn’t see this detail before so nice to pick up in this longer integration.

 

The faint galaxy Holmberg IX lies just above M81, seen here as a faint triangular smudge contained in a trapezoid set of stars. It seems to be a companion dwarf galaxy to M81, a bit like our Magellanic Clouds.

 

The small galaxies bottom left and right are PGC28563 and PGC28225 respectively.

 

Image scale: 1.59 arcsecond/pixel

Field-of-view: 1d 37' 34.0" x 1d 9' 3.6"

Image centred on:

RA: 9hr 55min 25.931s

DEC: +67d 10min 05.69s

 

I tried a few new things in PixInsight processing to try and get the best integrated image. I used a custom expression in SubFrame Selector and graded all the subs based on that expression (using Eccentricity, SNR and FWHM). The integration then used the weighted images (via a FITS keyword) so that the best made the most contribution and the worst, least.

SSRO- RCOS 16", Alta U9, PlaneWave Ascension 200HR, PixInsight 1.8, ACP, MaxIm DL, FocusMax

Object description at www.billionsandbillions.com

A galaxy much like our own Milky Way

IC1848

 

Vespera Pro 2269x10sec Dual filter from Thun, CH on 7-8 Nov. 2025. Processed with PixInsight.

 

nova.astrometry.net/user_images/14005713#annotated

Messier 78

TS 115/800

ASI ZWO 1600 Mono Cooled

Optolong: LRGB (180 - 35 - 24 - 24)

Processamento: PixInsight + PS6

Testaufnahme mit der Canon 6D

Trotz schlechter Transparenz, recht gutes Ergebnis dabei herausgekommen

 

distance 444 ly

 

Equipment:

Skywatcher ED80/600

Skywatcher Reducer x0,85

Canon 6D

Celestron AVX

 

Guiding:

i-Nova PLA-Mx on 9x50 Finderscope

PHD

 

30x300s ISO3200

19.01.2017

28.01.2017

 

total exposure time: 2:30

 

Processing: PixInsight/Lightroom

 

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Esprit 80/400, ASI2600MM-Pro, Astronomik SHO en 6nm (5h/5h25/4h50 et par brutes de 300"). NINA et Pixinsight.

NGC3628

 

LRGB data from Telescope Live. Processed with PixInsight. Grayscale version.

 

app.telescope.live/en

nova.astrometry.net/user_images/13379326#annotated

NGC 281, also known as IC 11, SH2-184, and more commonly known as the “Pacman Nebula,” is an emission nebula located 9,100 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

 

This image results from 8 hours of narrowband data and is rendered in the SHO Hubble Palette.

 

The initial data was collected over two nights ending on October 22nd. That collection cycle was interrupted due to illness. Three of the projects whose data was collected on those nights had enough integration that I could process the images. However, this one was still pretty short for the S2 filter. So I waited until I had a chance to add to the data set. Finally, on November 23, we had a clear night, and I was able to add about 3 hours more data to this project.

 

This image was shot on my Astro-Physics 130mm f/8.35 APO telescope platform, which uses a ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera, and is supported by an IOptron CEM60 Mount.

 

When I looked at the data for this project, I discovered a very strange artifact that I have never seen on this platform before - in fact, I have not seen it on any platform. I ended up having a series of concentric circles located in the lower-left corner of the image and a strange mottled noise across the rest of the image field. This pattern was not seen in the flats or the darks and was evident in every sub and master regardless of filters. It was also constant across all three evenings where data was collected.

 

In dealing with this, I ended up having the background sky much darker than I would have preferred, but all is not bad, as I think it does add to the "Snap" and the drama of the image.

 

This is also the first image I tried using Bill Blanshan's new SHO Normalization script on.

 

All details are in the post below.

 

The full story behind this image, along with a detailed processing walkthrough, can be found at:

cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ngc281-pacman-nebula-11-23-22

 

A video of the blink analysis for this data is also available if interested:

youtu.be/tiAUlvqpU-A

 

Finally, a video on my YouTube channel provides a high-level view of the processing strategy for this image:

youtu.be/vDXuTLz2Wdc

 

Please consider liking and following my fledgling YouTube channel! ( If nothing else you can laugh at my attempts to learn the video side of things!)

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Pat

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