This object's Dec is 34 degrees South and only had two hours period imaging time. I captured the subframes during the 3 AM ~ 5 AM when I was asleep. The ocean cloud will be in the bay for the next couple of weeks after 11 PM, I have cut short the imaging session. I do have enough data for post-processing.

C&C is welcome. Thank you for viewing.

Jian Yuan Peng

--- Facts --

The Lobster Nebula, Cataloged as NGC 6357, spans about 400 light-years in the constellation of the Scorpion about 8,000 light-years away from Earth. It is a diffuse nebula and contains at least three clusters of young stars, including many hot, massive, luminous stars. The overall blue glow near the inner star-forming region results from the emission of ionized hydrogen gas. The intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between interstellar winds, radiation pressures, magnetic fields, and gravity.

This nebula is named Lobster due to its appearance resembling the lobster.

Technical details:

Color palette by PixelMath

R = "(O^~O)*S + ~(O^~O)*H";

G = "((O*H)^~(O*H))*H + ~((O*H)^~(O*H))*O";

B = "O*1.2";

Telescope: TEC 160FL + TEC FRC 0.9x

Mount: Astro-Physics 1100GTO

Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI6200MM

Software: PHD2, PixInsight, Lightroom 6.4, Sequence Generator Pro, Photoshop CS6

Location: Palo Alto, California, USA

PhotometricColorCalibration data (preCorp):

Resolution ............... 0.784 arcsec/px

Rotation ................. 0.195 deg

Observation start time ... 2021-04-14 10:45:44 UTC

Observation end time ..... 2021-05-12 11:09:25 UTC

Focal distance ........... 988.91 mm

Pixel size ............... 3.76 um

Field of view ............ 2d 3' 0.6" x 1d 21' 29.0"

Image center ............. RA: 17 25 24.494 Dec: -34 11 42.48

Astrodon 50mm Unmounted 3nm Narrowband Ha, SII, OIII filters

Astrodon 50mm Unmounted LRGB Gen2 E-Series Filter Sets

Blue 52x120" 1.7 Hours Bin1x1

Green 52x120" 1.7 Hours Bin1x1

Red 52x120" 1.7 Hours Bin1x1

Ha 40x900" 2x1200" 10.6 Hours Bin1x1

OIII 29x900" 2x1200" 7.9 Hours Bin1x1

SII 28x900" 2x1200" 7.6 Hours Bin1x1