ngc6543 - 964 60 secs unguided exposures in 4 nights in O3 + 548 1 secs exposures for the center (Stefano Ciapetti)

ngc6543 - 964 60 secs unguided exposures in 4 nights in O3 + 548 1 secs exposures for the center

This image is the sum of 964 (16 hours and 4 minutes) 60 secs unguided subs taken during the nights of 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of June from my home terrace. Imaging train was:

Orion 250 F 3.9 Newton telescope, qhy 183 mono cooled camera, Iopotron CEM60EC mount, baader 8.5 nm O3 filter. Some clouds didn't allow me to fully cover the whole 4 nights, otherwise exposure time should be more. This image has not been processed at all. Just cropped from Astroart after stacking. I have to combine it with a separate image taken for the center of the nebula and to clean the horizontal banding in the middle of the screen.

The Cat's Eye Nebula (also known as NGC 6543 and Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco, discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786. It was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins, demonstrating that planetary nebulae were gaseous and not stellar in nature. Structurally, the object has had high-resolution images by the Hubble Space Telescope revealing knots, jets, bubbles and complex arcs, being illuminated by the central hot planetary nebula nucleus (PNN). It is a well-studied object that has been observed from radio to X-ray wavelengths. (Wikipedia)

Thanks for looking

Original
B
C
Final
D

B

Description: updated image with a different process and added about 548 1 sec bin 1 exposures for the center of the object. Thanks for looking

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: version C: reprocessed central area using Autostakker and added to version B using PS. Seems more details visible.

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: unsharp mask on the nebula and some curves

Uploaded: ...

Suburban Astrophotography
Imagers of Italy
Low-Cost Astrophotography
Short exposures DSO
Fast Newtonians
ZWO ASI183/QHY183

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4121933
PixInsight job	EIY0SXC4SGT0HMQPNDPDQ12D1NI55NM7
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	17h58m15s.754
RA (top/left)	17h54m54s.186
RA (top/right)	17h57m33s.580
RA (bottom/right)	18h01m33s.657
RA (bottom/left)	17h58m59s.999

Dec (center)	+66°38′17″.55
Dec (top/left)	+66°51′47″.80
Dec (top/right)	+66°14′39″.30
Dec (bottom/right)	+66°24′33″.16
Dec (bottom/left)	+67°01′55″.65

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