SH2-132 going on safari (Tom Gray)

SH2-132 going on safari

Revision title: Bin 2x2 Siril and Astrosharp with calibrated stars

I was fortunate to have opportunity to go on safari when volunteering in Africa in 1984. An amazing experience, although more often than not the lion were hidden in the scrub. I’ve always struggled to see the ‘lion’ in Sh2-132.

Data were collected over two nights during a recent change in weather with cold Northerly air blowing away the murk that has dogged the U.K. for weeks. The seeing was much better on the first night, but passing cloud aborted guiding on at least two occasions resulting in lost data. I struggled to achieve good focus on the second night.

The best 60% frames were calibrated and aligned in ASTAP, with only 62 of 240 frames stacked. As a result the image is rather noisy. Nevertheless I was happy to see nebulosity with plenty of Ha and OIII, including that bright beam - a twinkle in the elusive lion’s eye? I also like the colour saturation in Herschel’s bright garnet star RV Cepheus.

Revision B maximises the data, comprising over 7 hours, calibrated and manually stacked in Nebulosity. The stars are wonky and the image not so sharp, but greater depth and saturation, with a much less noise. Revision C is an annotated version of the original showing off the numerous dark nebulae surrounding the lion. Finally, Revision D - the original data binned 2x2 which helps bump up the SNR without too much loss in resolution 1.8”/ox versus 0.9”/ox binned 1x1.

How to get PHD2 to automatically reacquire guiding after clouds and restart capture? I must explore ways of achieving this. The first night also ended with an unexpected cloud burst - fortunately my SA mount and RPi4 survived the deluge - a lucky escape.

B

Title: 155x180s (7.75 hours) data

Description: Double the data calibrated and stacked in Nebulosity v4, processed in Siril v2. A much cleaner background and better saturation, but stars are wonky.

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: Annotated in Siril

Uploaded: ...

D

Title: Binned 2x2 62x180s (3 hrs)

Uploaded: ...

F

Title: The Ha data stack

Description: Using Siril I extracted the Ha and OIII components from data taken with my Baader UHC-L L booster filter. Almost half the PSF with Ha, and a much cleaner stack. Herewith, autostretched and basic deconvolution.

Uploaded: ...

H

Title: Bin 2x2 Siril and Astrosharp with calibrated stars

Description: I've managed to remove the annoying cast, whilst retaining RGB calibrated stars

Uploaded: ...

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
UK Astro-Imaging

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8818878
PixInsight job	MNQR30T4YRDG7406ZVJ5OD05HZBCJCFL
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	22h19m18s.40
RA (top/left)	22h22m06s.100
RA (top/right)	22h13m53s.83
RA (bottom/right)	22h16m35s.66
RA (bottom/left)	22h24m41s.20

Dec (center)	+56°03′41″.3
Dec (top/left)	+56°42′49″.2
Dec (top/right)	+56°09′04″.8
Dec (bottom/right)	+55°24′15″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	+55°57′22″.4

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