Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud and Dust (Gabriel R. Santos (grsotnas))

Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud and Dust

Within the Southern Constellation Chamaeleon, lies beautiful fillaments of dust and dark nebulae. The Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud, whuch is potrayed in this image, "lies some 400 to 600 light years from Earth, and contains tens of thousands of solar masses of gas and dust. " [Wikipedia]

The extremely faint dust, in strongly southern declinations (~ -75º) makes this a challenge - both for capturing and processing. I personally see this dust regions as bein the "Southern" version of the IFN - the latter much more captured by amateurs. Indeed, this Molecular complex appears to be rarely imaged (especially in such wide fields), according to a quick search. Furthermore, even from my 22ºS latitude, this object never rises for more than 40º, and LP from nearby cities become more of a factor so close to the horizon.

I must admit I was really surprised by how this image turned out. The starting data was already pretty good, with extremely clear and stable skiy conditions. Processing was by no means easy, as to bring out such faint details, in such a rich starfiels is a challenge. In order to capture the faint gas and dust, this is my longest integration time thus far (although less than most deeper images around the web), at 2h or 120min. Finally, to sum things up, I just really liked the final result!

*Please check the full image 1800px - resized from original)*

Constructive criticism, comments and suggestions are more than welcome in the comments section. Thank's for taking your time to look at this image.

Taken from Rural Skies (Bortle 3-4; NELM ~6.2; SQM ~21.6*calculated), from Cristina, MG, Brazil (22ºS latitude).

Date and Time: June 15th, 2017, at 20h (UTC-3, start of capture)

Camera: Unmodded Canon T4i/650D, at ISO 800

Lens: Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8, operated at 200mm f/3.5

Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5, tracking, guided (

Guiding: Starguider 50mm Guidescope + ASI120mm + PHD2; ~1.8" RMS

Exposure Detail: 30x240s (total 120min)

Original
Final
B
C

B

Description: More Star Shrinking and Stretching applied to better show the faint dust

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Extremley (read over) stretched image, just to better show the dust. Not my final though, as artifacts begin to come up

Uploaded: ...

Camera Lens Astrophotography
Objects of the South - negative declination only
Cloudy Nights

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
PixInsight job	UFGSWBFZ7LTROOICISYJJCRYZ6FLKIS1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	12h51m01s.0
RA (top/left)	13h54m05s.9
RA (top/right)	13h25m46s.4
RA (bottom/right)	12h15m42s.8
RA (bottom/left)	11h48m34s.7

Dec (center)	-78°59′23″
Dec (top/left)	-81°56′01″
Dec (top/right)	-75°32′37″
Dec (bottom/right)	-75°34′47″
Dec (bottom/left)	-81°58′12″

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