The Pillars of Creation with 24" ( KuriousGeorge )

The Pillars of Creation with 24"

Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses: Planewave CDK24
Imaging Cameras: FLI PL16803
Mounts: Planewave L600
Filters: Astrodon 50 mm 5 nm Ha · Chroma 50 mm 5nm SII · Astrodon 50 mm 5 nm OIII
Accessories: FLI CFW-5-7 · Astrodon Monster MOAG · Planewave EFA · Hedrick Focuser · Planewave Delta-T · None
Software: Diffraction Limited MaxIm DL · Open PHD Guiding Project PHD2 · Planewave PWI4 · PixInsight 1.8 · Sequence Generator Pro · CCDWare CCD Inspector · Photoshop CS3 · Planewave PWI3
Guiding Cameras: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar M

Dates:: June 15, 2020 · June 16, 2020 · June 18, 2020
Frames:: Astrodon 50 mm 5 nm Ha: 35×300″(2h 55′) -30°C bin 1×1
Astrodon 50 mm 5 nm OIII: 18×300″(1h 30′) -30°C bin 1×1
Chroma 50 mm 5nm SII: 18×300″(1h 30′) -30°C bin 1×1
Integration:: 5h 55′
Darks:: 20
Flats:: 60
Flat darks:: 60
Bias:: 20
Avg. Moon age:: 25.35 days
Avg. Moon phase:: 19.49%
Mean SQM:: 21.50
Mean FWHM:: 1.80

Basic astrometry details

Astrometry.net job: 3636471

Resolution: 1316x1220

File size: 551.3 KB

Locations: KG Observatory, Julian, CA, United States

Data source: Backyard

My goal with this project was to see how close I could get to the 2015 Hubble shot celebrating 25 years in orbit...

Hubble Pillars of Creation

Fortunately my Ha, OIII and SII filters are very close to those used by Hubble...

Blue: F502N (OIII)

Green: F657N (Hα + NII)

Red: F673N (SII)

... so similar color was in sight. (-:

The biggest challenge was to capture good Ha for detail. This uses 35 of my best 5-minute Ha exposures over several days. FWHM on Ha subs is between 1.7" and 2.1".

After combining SII, OIII and Ha, uncolored Ha was added as a soft light layer to help with detail and contrast.

Minor noise reduction was applied to SII and OIII. No noise reduction on Ha to help maximize detail.

Finally, a very mild Unsharp Mask was applied over a cropped 2X Drizzle for additional detail.

Original
B
Final
C

B

Description: Added 85 minutes of Ha for slightly less noise.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Minor tweaks to sharpness, color, star size and color noise.

Uploaded: ...

Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) Imagers

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Dismissals Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3636471
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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