NGC 1491 - Fossil Footprint Nebula in SHO (EasyQuest)

NGC 1491 - Fossil Footprint Nebula in SHO

Comments

For this project, I wanted to shoot to the northeast as objects stay up high for a long time in he sky. I decided on NGC 1491 - Fossil Footprint Nebula in Perseus. I choose this object as I seen some great SHO imaging of this nebula. It is not as popular as the NGC 1499 or M45 but still good to shoot if other objects are already done for the season. I did not go crazy with the exposure them as this project is only 26 hours total versus the last one at 60 Hours. I am overall happy with this project but might return next year on a wider fieldofview.

Moon Phase, Location, and Date

Moon Phase in December: 95%%, 90%
Moon Phase in January: 1%, 10%, 27%, 57%, 66%
Murfreesboro, TN (Bortle 6)
December 21, 22, 2021
January 03, 05, 07, 10, 11

Equipment

Telescope/Lens: William optics Fluorostar 156 (1228 mm at f/7.8 )
Flattener/Reducer: William Optics Flattener 68III (1.0x Native focal length)
Auto Focuser: ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser
Filter: Chroma 31mm SII 3nm Telescope Filter - Unmounted
Filter: Chroma 31mm HA 3nm Telescope Filter - Unmounted
Filter: Chroma 31mm OIII 3nm Telescope Filter - Unmounted
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW (8 x 31mm/1.25″)
Mount: iOptron CEM120
Tri-Pier: iOptron Tri-Pier 360 for CEM120
Off-Axis Guider: ZWO OAG
Guider: ZWO ASI120MM-MINI
Dew Heater Controller: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Micro (Clean up Cables)
Dew Heater: AstroStrap Dew Heater for 7" Telescopes
Camera: ZWO ASI294MM Pro
Polar Alignment: QHYCCD Polemaster (Precise polar alignment)
Intel NUC (For imaging, dither, auto guiding, plate solve, Pegasus Astro Software Control) (Replaced laptop to clean up cables)

Software

PHD2 (For Auto Guiding)
QHYCCD PoleMaster Software (Polar Alignment)
Astrophotography Tool (APT) (For Dither, plate solve, mount control)
EQMOD (Remove Hand Controller and allow pulse guiding)
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox (Control the Pocket Powerbox Micro)
Deep Sky Stacker (Stacking Frames)
Photoshop (Processing)
PixInsight (Processing)

Acquisition

Temperature: -15°C on all calibration frames as well as light frames
Exposure per Filter: 26 hrs
SII - 96 X 300s (8 hrs)
HA - 96 x 300s (8 hrs)
OIII - 120 x 300s (10 hrs)
Dark Flats for SII and HA: 40, 60 for OIII
Flats for SII and HA: 40, 60 for OIII
30 Darks (Used Master Dark file)
Gain: 120 (Unity Gain)
Bin: 2x2 (Full resolution if left 1x1 which is the IMX492 sensor.)
Offset: Left Default

Processing in Photoshop and PixInsight

Stacked in DSS
Edited in Photoshop and PixInsight
EZ Denoise
RC-Astro GradientXTerminator
RC-Astro StarXTerminator in Photoshop
Adjusted levels
Adjusted Curves
Selective Curves Adjustment
Color Correction
Blacks Correction
Saturation Balance
Cropped to desired framing
Morphological Transformation in PixInsight for Star reduction
Linear Dodge to add stars back on
Star color correction

	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
Landscape

	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.	...
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5406616
PixInsight job	UU9MLKON80S4OS0RVGPEEWPR6DJ2UW15
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	04h03m39s.726
RA (top/left)	04h06m05s.928
RA (top/right)	04h01m15s.730
RA (bottom/right)	04h01m14s.830
RA (bottom/left)	04h06m02s.619

Dec (center)	+51°18′43″.30
Dec (top/left)	+51°32′51″.72
Dec (top/right)	+51°33′18″.20
Dec (bottom/right)	+51°04′22″.82
Dec (bottom/left)	+51°03′57″.62

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