IC 1871 and LBN 637 - Soul Nebula region in SHO Palette (EasyQuest)

IC 1871 and LBN 637 - Soul Nebula region in SHO Palette

Comments
On this imaging setup, after completing Melotte 15 in SHO, I decided on an area close to it. IC 1871 in the Soul Nebula region in SHO. This area contains LBN 673 as well next to IC 1871. I wanted 72 hours of data but decided on calling it quits after 60 hours due to weather and diminishing return of signal to noise ratio. Final image is one my best image of a DSO object yet! Enjoy.

Moon Phase, Location, and Date

Moon Phase in November: 70%, 99%, 92%, 85%, 60%, 40%
Moon Phase in December: 7%, 23%, 54%, 64%, 73%
Murfreesboro, TN (Bortle 6)
November 13, 18, 22, 23, 26, 28, 2021
December 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 2021

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: 60 hrs
SII - 228 X 300s (19 hrs)
HA - 288 x 300s (24 hrs)
OIII - 204 x 300s (17 hrs)
Dark Flats for SII, HA, and OIII: 80 Each Filters
Flats for SII, HA, and OII: 80 Each Filters
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
RC-Astro GradientXTerminator
RC-Astro StarXTerminator in Photoshop
Adjusted levels
Adjusted Curves
Selective Curves Adjustment
Color Correction
Blacks Correction
Saturation Balance
Very little Noise Reduction
Cropped
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.	...
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.
Early dismissal 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	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5326115
PixInsight job	5DKOUVNVSUS7IKC4ZYVI3PJYCVNAGKIJ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	02h57m41s.163
RA (top/left)	02h54m05s.777
RA (top/right)	03h01m10s.222
RA (bottom/right)	03h01m20s.340
RA (bottom/left)	02h54m08s.238

Dec (center)	+60°38′40″.94
Dec (top/left)	+60°21′33″.91
Dec (top/right)	+60°20′24″.26
Dec (bottom/right)	+60°55′26″.21
Dec (bottom/left)	+60°56′36″.78

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):