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The Archer and The Serpent

 

In this my latest image containing 2 of the most prominent objects in Sagittarius (the archer) and Serpens (the serpent).

From left The Omega Nebula M17, in the center The Eagle Nebula M16 and far right is the open cluster NGC 6604 and the bright emission nebula Sh2-54 in the constellation Serpens, processed as Hubble Palette (SHO).

 

Using data from Grand Mesa Observatory’s System 1a the William Optics Redcat together with a QHY16200A Monochrome CCD, this combination is giving a field of view of approximately 6 x 5 degrees. 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. 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, I used Starnet in Pixinsight to make the image Starless and then added the more natural star color by inserting stars from the RGB image. Captured over 8 nights in 2021 for a total acquisition time of 14.9 hours.

 

The William Optics Redcat with QHY16200A and its 7 position filter wheel with Chroma filters is now available at Grand Mesa Observatory for subscription, see here for details grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment

View in High Resolution:

Astrobin www.astrobin.com/ylbajk/

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Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

May 19th, June 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 12th 2021

HA 150 min 15x600 sec

OIII 170 min 17x600 sec

SII 110 min 11x600 sec

LUM 125 min 25x300 sec

RED 115 min 23x300 sec

GREEN 115 min 23x300 sec

BLUE 110 min 22x300 sec

Filters by Chroma

Camera: QHY16200A

Gain 0, Offset 130 Calibrated with Flat, Dark and Bias Frames.

Optics: William Optics Redcat 51 APO @ F4.9

EQ Mount: Paramount MEII

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6

Pre Processing in Pixinsight

Post Processed in Photoshop CC

Star Removal by Starnet in Pixinsight

 

The light we see from the Eagle Nebula and its associated stars left some 7,000 years ago, but some astronomers suspect the Pillars of Creation may have already been obliterated when a massive young star within the nebula detonated as a supernova. The Spitzer Space Telescope detected evidence of a patch of hot gas near the Pillars which may have been caused by such an event about 8,000 years ago. Information from our e-book cosmicpursuits.com/astronomy-courses-and-e-books/armchair...

 

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Uploaded on July 20, 2021