NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017 (David Dearden)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas) · Contains: IC 1590 · NGC 281 · Sh2-184

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NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

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NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

This is the last of my recent attempts to learn SHO Hubble palette imaging; I’m planning to try some LRGB while the Moon is absent if the sky cooperates. I’d seen some indications in others’ images that OIII was reasonably strong in the Pacman, and it is, but actually SII wasn’t terrible either. I added more SII than usual and I think it brings out some details that would otherwise be missed (I guess I should process a bicolor version to check that notion). I had pretty good conditions on all 3 nights I took these data. The resulting image is orders of magnitude better than my best previous Pacman, so I’m very happy with it.

Date: 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

Subject: NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula)

Scope: AT8IN + High Point Scientific coma corrector

Filters: ZWO 31 mm diameter unmounted SII, Hα, OIII (7 nm bandpass)

Mount: EQ-6 (EQMOD 2.000j)+PEC

Guiding: Orion Thin Off-axis Guider + DSI +PHD 2.6.3.7 (Win 10 ASCOM) using predictive PEC algorithm

Camera: ASI1600MM-Cool, -20 °C, Gain 198 Offset 50

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 3.0.0.2

Exposure: 77x300 Hα, 72x300 SII, 60x300 OIII

Stacking: Neb 4.1.6, flats & darks, trans+rot align, Nebulosity 1.5σ stack and align.

Processing: StarTools 1.4.328: Aggressively stretched and deconvoluted each of the 3 channels in StarTools. Aligned the processed layers in Nebulosity then combined in Photoshop using Annie’s Astro Actions’ Hubble Palette module. Used Carboni’s Local Contrast Enhance, Deep Space, and Space Noise Reduction. AstroFrame.

ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M
Narrowband imaging

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	1774708
PixInsight job	N46EBJIKVE8MZG1L4KRAQP4XJIKFDYPO
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	00h52m47s.610
RA (top/left)	00h49m59s.999
RA (top/right)	00h49m52s.444
RA (bottom/right)	00h55m29s.741
RA (bottom/left)	00h55m46s.484

Dec (center)	+56°39′58″.44
Dec (top/left)	+57°11′39″.40
Dec (top/right)	+56°09′17″.73
Dec (bottom/right)	+56°08′04″.30
Dec (bottom/left)	+57°10′23″.57

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NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

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NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

NGC 281, Pacman Nebula, SHO Hubble Palette; 8, 10, 16 Oct 2017

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