Image of the day 02/10/2021

    Cygnus Loop - Color Splash!, Min Xie

    Cygnus Loop - Color Splash!

    Image of the day 02/10/2021

      Cygnus Loop - Color Splash!, Min Xie

      Cygnus Loop - Color Splash!

      Equipment

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      Acquisition details

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      Description

      Data for this image is from my last effort to create a mosaic of the Cygnus Loop. I don't remember exactly how many nights involved. A quick check shows it happened between 2020/06/06 and 2020/09/27. The backyard imaging for this project finished before I switching gears to prepare the remote observatory team installation.

      Data Details (2-Panel Mosaic):



      Ha - 336 x 2, 300s, Gain 100

      S-II - 336 x 2, 300s, Gain 100

      O-III - 336 x 2, 300s, Gain 100



      After letting the data sitting on the disk for 4 months, I decided to put the data together and make an image. The first thing I noticed is that the light pollution is getting much worse in my area year by year. One example - I even got a strong gradient with the Ha 3nm filter. There are strong gradient bars in the middle of the S-II and O-III mosaic masters. Even with 168 hours, the SNRs are so poor. Hats off to all backyarders!

      This is a typical HSO narrowband blend. A portion of Ha and O-III joined S-II to form the green channel. Synthetical luminance was created with all three mosaic masters by lighten blending with SHO-AIP script. Multiple hue selections done to separate the colors.

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