Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Monoceros (Mon)  ·  Contains:  HD47887  ·  HD48055  ·  LDN 1613
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The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey
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The Cone Nebula in SHO

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey
Powered byPixInsight

The Cone Nebula in SHO

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Description

This is a recent dataset from the Telescope Live CHI-1-CMOS telescope in El Sauce, Chile.  Processed in PixInsight.

It is a short exposure dataset (6shrs total integration time) given the relative dimness of the nebula.  This target would profit greatly from a longer integration with a minimum 20 frames per filter instead of 12.  20 is the 'magic' number in PixInsight that enables the more enhanced/robust processing algorithms to kick in.  Below that point, there aren't enough data points (frames) for the statistical functions to provide the better results this target needs.  Increased integration time would provide better detail/resolution to the nebula than is available in the current dataset, IMO.

I believe this target will be pretty far to the north in the skies from El Sauce, which may acount for the higher noise / grain in the images than CDK-24 OTA normally provides.  

Weather kept this from my data acquisition list this year and in my OTA's FoV it would be a very small target.  The final image is cropped from the sides to provide more emphasis to the Cone Nebula.

Update:  I decided to add the Ha back in as an L channel with the LRGB channel combination tool, after preparing the Ha image as a mask.  It smoothed out the image quite a bit, improved the contrast and some faint detail, so it was well worth it.  IMO - YMMV

OK: Update 2 (version C)

I was doing some checking and found that I didn't care for the image created by Cosmetic Correction.  I had toned down the aggressiveness, but the CC application still created some noticeable graininess, especially in the Ha image which in non-CC form was very 'smooth'.  So I started an entirely new process train excluding the CC application in WBPP.  I also felt like the previous versions had too much teal/green highlights - since there is very very very little Oiii in this target that shouldn't exist to that extent (even though in SHO, Ha resides in the green channel).  I took a bit different order in applying curves/color mask+curves tool this time.  I chose to do a "full spectrum curves app first instead of after applying color masks.  This gave me a higher contrast image to work with as the basis for the various color masks which, IMO, improved the overall result.

The non-CC Ha_Mask turned out better/provided a better result/increase in detail/resolution when applied as well.  HDR, NXT, and just a touch of Unsharpmask finished up the image.  Then rotation, and a new crop to enphasize the increased detail now in the image of hte surrounding nebula cloud.  Since this region is also home to the Christmas Tree, I decided to amp up the starfield just a bit more before adding back into the starless image.

Let me know what you think about the different versions and which you may prefer.  Thanks in advance!!!

From Wikipedia:The Cone Nebula is an H II region in the constellation of Monoceros. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 26, 1785, at which time he designated it H V.27. The nebula is located about 830 parsecs or 2,700 light-years away from Earth.

The Cone Nebula forms part of the nebulosity surrounding the Christmas Tree Cluster. The designation of NGC 2264 in the New General Catalogue refers to both objects and not the nebula alone.The diffuse Cone Nebula, so named because of its apparent shape, lies in the southern part of NGC 2264, the northern part being the magnitude-3.9 Christmas Tree Cluster. It is in the northern part of Monoceros, just north of the midpoint of a line from Procyon to Betelgeuse.

The cone's shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front of a faint emission nebula containing hydrogen ionized by S Monocerotis, the brightest star of NGC 2264. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long (with an apparent length of 10 arcminutes), and is 2,700 light-years away from Earth.The nebula is part of a much larger star-forming complex—the Hubble Space Telescope was used to capture images of forming stars in 1997.

Comments

Revisions

  • The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey
    Original
  • The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey
    B
  • Final
    The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey
    C

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The Cone Nebula in SHO, George  Yendrey