1,400 light years from earth, this is probably my favorite DSO. A 6.8 magnitude reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. The petals of the flowers are about 6 light years across and are illuminated by the light of its magnitude 7.8 central star SAO 19158.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-iris-nebulahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_NebulaThis is a 25 minute integration imaged by live-stacking with Sharpcap with a 14 inch¨´ Dobson using a Falcon -derotator to counter field rotation. The FITS file from this stack was then processed in Startools.
I'm pretty pleased how well the core is resolved. This is part of my journey, trying to push the limits of a GOTO Dobson designed for visual to obtain high quality astrophotography. Still a way to go, but its getting there!
Revision: I thought I'd see if I could tweak out any more detail by cropping and reprocessing the core. Despite numerous tried, with decor, sharpen and HDR modules of Startools, this was the best I could come out with - without trashing the stars. A marginal improvement, but not much better than just zooming in on the original! I. think I need a better mount for finer detail !
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