Tag: heart nebula

The Heart & Soul Nebulae – 20 Hours

Ever since I took my first images of the Heart Nebula last November, I wanted to return to this target. I did so in December of last year right after my hospitalization with COVID-19 and produced my longest / largest project up to that point. At the time, I thought 6 hours was a very large amount of data! Since then, I did 11.5 hours on the Rosette Nebula, 14 hours on the California Nebula and now 20 hours on the Heart & Soul Nebulae together.

Here we have the 20 hours of data processed “normally” – Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and then processed in Photoshop how I normally do my narrowband filtered data. Previously, I had only beer able to shoot these targets separately:

Putting both of these in the same field of view without having to attempt a mosaic was a huge selling point for me with the Radian Raptor 61 telescope. Another good scope for this is the RedCat 51 – they both have similar focal lengths and both have the capability to produce wonderful images. Being able to get as much time on these targets over only a few nights under a dimly lit / new moon was a huge improvement over my previous attempts on these targets as well.

Here we have the same data processed in a simulated SHO Palette. This is done by stacking the images in Astro Pixel Processor and separating the Ha and Oiii channels out while simulating a Sii channel. Once the separation is done, I then use APP to combine those channels as well as do a background calibration and a light pollution removal to help neutralize the background. Once that is done, I then finalize the processing in Photoshop like I normally would.

I did two separate processes after my initial processing because I felt like I had over saturated the image, making it look more like a painting then a photograph. The only difference between these two processes is color balancing at the end.

Lastly, we have the data processed in the HOO palette, which is a little more “natural” for the filter I use – the Optolong L-eNhanced filter. Here we take the Ha and Oiii channels and combine them, using the Oiii channel twice. Processing is the same once that is done using both APP and Photoshop.

Equipment & Statistics

Radian Raptor 61
Canon EOS Ra
Optolong L-eNhanced Filter
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide)
ZWO asi224mc (guide)
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184 x 360s (800 ISO)
20 x 300s (800 ISO)
Dark, flat, bias and dark flats calibration frames
Bortle 8 – Providence, RI

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Heart Nebula | IC 1805 – All Data

Heart Nebula – Providence, RI – 8.8 Hours Integration

Final version of the Heart Nebula project with my broadband data and three days worth of narrow band data all put together. Note, that for most of these the Moon was either full or close to it, so there was a lot of ambient light beyond the typical light pollution I suffer from. I will be creating a portfolio on Pixieset specifically for Heart Nebula images for purchase. For other images, please visit SNC Astro on Pixieset.

Statistics and Gear:

Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount
Canon EOS Ra
Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer / Field Flattener
OptoLong L-eNhanced Filter (2″)
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide)
ZWO ASI224MC (guide)

58x180s (12/29) – L-eNhanced
41x180s (12/28) – L-eNhanced
28 x 180s (12/26) – L-eNhanced
59 x 150s (11/26) – Orion Skyglow Broadband LP
(231.5 min integration / 3.85 hours)
Darks (20 / 20 /20 / 15)
Flats (50 / 50 / 50 / 50)
Dark Flats (50 / 50 / 50 / 50)
Biases (50/ 50 / 50 / 50)

Heart Nebula – Providence, RI – Narrow-band Data – 6 hours integration

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Heart Nebula | IC 1805

Heart Nebula – 12/26/2020 – Providence, RI

This month has been… a challenge. Between not having clear skies, Covid-19 running through the family (myself, my wife, my seven children and other family members) and then personally getting worse and ending up in the hospital right before Christmas with Covid/Pneumonia, it has simply been a month that in a lot of ways I’d like to forget. However, I was blessed to be able to recover enough to be home for Christmas and while I was in the hospital, several items that I had been waiting for came in (Optolong L-eNhanced filter for one) and then I saw I would have clear skies on 12/26. I did everything I could to help boost my strength – still weak, tired, etc, and I was able to set up and get a little time in on the Heart Nebula which is located in the constellation Cassiopeia. I had gathered data twice before on this target with mixed results – once with no filter and then once again with my reducer and Orion SkyGlow Broadband light pollution filter. This time though I was armed with the Optolong L-eNhanced and I love the results, even if I wasn’t able to get as much time on target as I wanted.

Statistics and Gear:

Meade Series 6000 80mm Triplet APO
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro Mount
Canon EOS Ra
Astro-Tech 0.8 Reducer / Field Flattener
OptoLong L-eNhanced Filter (2″)
ZWO 30mm f4 MiniScope (guide)
ZWO ASI224MC (guide

28 x 180s light frames at 800 ISO
20 dark frames (180s at 800 ISO)
50 flat frames (10s at 800 ISO)
50 dark flat frames (10s at 800 ISO)
50 bias frames (1/8000 at 800 ISO)

Guiding with PHD2 and captured in APT. Stacked in DSS with processing in Photoshop, Topaz and StarNet++

Yes, you read that right, 10 second flats…. used AV mod on the Ra, filter was in and I had my light panel real low with a doubled up handkerchief for light diffusion and it seemed to work out okay. I also took some at 1.3″ just in case, but I did not end up using them. I might run the whole process through Siril for the heck of it just to see and if I do I will probably use the lower exposed flats.

Heart Nebula – Combined Data – 11/26 & 12/26 2020 – Providence, RI

Now, these two are a combination of my data from 12/26 and data I also took on 11/26. The difference is on 11/26 I took 59 exposures at 150s with the Orion SkyGlow Broadband Light Pollution filter. Combining all the data gave me just under 4 hours worth of data

28 x 180s (12/26) – L-eNhanced
59 x 150s (11/26) – Orion Skyglow Broadband LP
(231.5 min integration / 3.85 hours)
Darks (20 / 15)
Flats (50 / 50)
Dark Flats (50 / 50)
Biases (50 / 50)

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