Here is my attempt to capture NGC7293 the Helix nebula in Narrowband using the Foraxx Pallete with the three channels of HA, OIII and SII.
I wanted to go really deep this year especially to catch the HA in the outer shell and also the SII. Yes there is Sii in the image it just took nearly 20 hours for it to come out (see below).
I had a rare combination of clear skies and being home for most of July to gather the data. The long nights here in the winter in Australia allowed me to target the image early in its season. Also the lack of moon meant I could gather lots of OIII and the faint SII. I set up NINA to do just that and then HA as the moon came up.
The IMX455 chip is not a good match with the FSQ106IV and 1.6X Extender and with an OAG there aren't too many stars in the FOV especially for multi-star guiding with PHD2. I setup an DEC ARC model with my Astro-Physics 1100AE mount and that really helped the guiding, especially with 200 mile hour Jetstream's over my house as we often have in winter.
I had tremendous trouble calibrating the three filters. My darks were causing all kind of issues. I am a member of Adam Block Studios (
Adam Block Studios: Instruction in Astrophotography ) and reached out to him for assistance.
Adam Block's gallery - AstroBinHe was able to work out that the issue was my dark frames. In addition his Stretching Academy on the use of GHS is fantastic. Thank you Adam.
For those who are interested here is the SII after 17 hours (starless):
The Helix nebula is 650 light years away and is a planetary nebula. It is formed by a star, similar to our sun, shedding its outer core of hydrogen into space destroying any other planets, comets and asteroids that orbited it. Its an insight into the end of our sun and solar system, however that wont happen for about another 5 billion years.
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