20211108 - IC405 AUR - The Flaming Star - A fiery flame in the sky …
What’s in the picture(s)
IC 405 - The Flaming Star -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_405Quote: “IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31) is an
emission and
reflection nebula in the constellation
Auriga north of the
celestial equator, surrounding the bluish star
AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0.
The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500
light-years away from
Earth. It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the
Orion's Belt area. The nebula is about 5
light-years across.”
What was the experience
Clouds for weeks … and no Clear Sky in sight … 10km more inland, the sky was wide open, but no luck at my Bortle 6 place … until a fluke opening in the sky. Hazy, but worth the chance. Scopes outside in a fast drill and just for a couple of hours, a quick capture of photons, until mid-way through the night, cloud cover rolled in again. You need to saviour the moments in life when they present themselves 😉
How it was done
Scope: TS-94 APO (FL 414mm)
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
Filter: L-Enhance
Photons: 300s 30x
Darks/Flats/Bias
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
What have I learned from this
Building up the processing experience, and enjoying the moments. Straight rgb processing, although the L-Enhance skews the colouring of the Nebula, and a blueish hue in the middle, in spite of the proper curve/HST trimmings. The image could do with more integration time, but given the short opportunity, I wanted to divide the time across a couple of DSOs, wanting to make the most of it. Expansion on the integration time planned for the next clear sky.
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
Follow me @astrowaut
Astrobin:
https://www.astrobin.com/users/WCA65/
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