Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 1590  ·  NGC 281  ·  Sh2-184
The Eye of Sauron (NGC 281), Andrew Barton
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The Eye of Sauron (NGC 281)

The Eye of Sauron (NGC 281), Andrew Barton
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The Eye of Sauron (NGC 281)

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Description

NGC 281 is a bright emission nebula in Cassiopeia colloquially known as the Pacman Nebula. But to me, this image and framing evoke “The Eye of Sauron” from the Lord of the Rings movies.

This image affirms the phrase, “less is more”. I took data in both narrow band and RGB, and I experimented in combining it in different ways. In my alternative version of this image, I replace the narrow band stars with RGB stars using Starnet++ as part of the process. But, in the end, I prefer the straight narrow band version of the image.

The specific blend I used is:

R = 0.75*SII + Ha*0.25

G = 0.5*SII + 0.5*OIII

B = OIII

I used the Ha channel as the luminance image.

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The Eye of Sauron (NGC 281), Andrew Barton

In these public groups

ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M