NGC 6543, The Cat's Eye Nebula Core (Bob Rucker)

NGC 6543, The Cat's Eye Nebula Core

I've imaged this target several times in the past but was never happy with the outcome. I decided to take another stab at it with a specific focus on resolving as much core detail as possible. Rather than learn lucky imaging using video capture and planetary processing software, I decided to use standard processing techniques to achieve my goal. LRGB channels were shot using 1, 5, 7.5 and 10 second exposures. Each of the channels were combined using HDR Composition. 2 minute exposures using the Ha and Oiii channels were shot and combined in the HOO palette.

The next step used a lot of trial and error with HDRMultiscaleTransform in order to resolve as much of the core detail as possible on the LRGB and HOO images. Follow up processing utilized normal workflow. Using a mask to protect the core, the HOO and LRGB images were combined using the CombineImages script with blend mode. Final tweaks were done in Photoshop Beta 25.9 using the new AI upscale feature followed with a massive crop so that the image was semi viewable.

This image is the first phase of a longer project. I'm working on collecting another 5 nights worth of data for RGB stars (180 second exposures) and 1,000 second exposures for the Ha and Oiii channels to try and get more detail in the outer nebulosity. This core image will then be blended in to make a final image,

This has been an ambitious project. Stacking so many short exposures had my PC huffing and puffing! The EdgeHD 8 managed a fair amount of core detail but this is one of those targets that really makes me wish I had even more focal length.

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
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Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9825740
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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