After 3.5 years of Astrophotography, I hit my first significant astro slump. A number of factors contributed to past 6 months including poor weather over the summer, frustrating problems with calibration frames and fits with long trials of trouble shooting, decreased desire to edit projects especially more complicated mosaics, and the fact I decided to learn how to solve a standard 3x3 Rubix cube. 

The later problem and my propensity for charging into new hobbies and activities lead to learning and mastering solving different cubes. I hit my goal of solving a 3x3 in under 30 seconds 3 times, with my best being 23 seconds. Furthermore,  I am now able to solve a 4x4 cube in 2:50 and a 5x5 cube in 6:50. 



Even during the slump, I found excitement still getting my gear out and capture the night sky when the weather permitted. I have data for approximately 20-25 projects to edit. 

All of that aside, I really enjoyed processing this project with the Rokinon 135 mm in both modified SHO and HOO.  I set off to capture the larger area around nebula and using these photos for Questions? at the end presentations.  I modified SHO by adding 0.3 of the Ha layer to the blue channel with Oxygen to achieve a little theoretical Hb effect. In the same way, I added 0.3 and 0.4 of the Ha layer to the green and blue channel for the HOO version. The stars were created by using spectrophotometric color calibration with standard SHO inputs and stretching with GHS at 15% of the histogram. 

In the end, I much prefer this version and data compared to my Askar 2 panel mosaic from earlier this year.


Question Mark Nebula (NGC 7822 and Sh2-170) 2 Panel Mosaic SHO Askar 400


SH2-171 is a large molecular cloud in the Constellation of Cepheus hydrogen emission region. It's located 3000 light years from earth.  The area contains NGC 7822 star cluster in the center and the top right cluster of Berkely 59. I find the most intriguing part of the image to the large pillars projecting towards the middle of SH2-171. Sh2-170 forms the period portion of the question mark.