Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics RedCat 51 Petzval APO
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool
Mounts: Paramount MyT
Guiding telescopes or lenses: QHYCCD QHY Mini Guide Scope
Guiding cameras: QHYCCD QHY 5L-II mono
Software: Aries Productions Astro Pixel Processor APP · Software Bisque The SkyX Professional · Starkeeper Software Voyager · PixInsight 1.8 Ripley
Filters: Baader OIII 8.5nm 1.25" · Baader Planetarium Baader H-Alpha 1,25" 7nm CCD · ZWO Blue Filter Optimized for ASI1600 · ZWO Green Filter Optimized for ASI1600 · ZWO Red Filter Optimized for ASI1600
Accessory: ZWO Optical EFW 8x1.25" filter wheel · AF2 RED CAT
Dates:Dec. 8, 2020 , Dec. 17, 2020
Frames:
Baader Planetarium Baader H-Alpha 1,25" 7nm CCD: 241x240" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
Baader OIII 8.5nm 1.25": 217x240" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
ZWO Blue Filter Optimized for ASI1600: 32x75" (gain: 75.00) -15C bin 1x1
ZWO Green Filter Optimized for ASI1600: 32x75" (gain: 75.00) -15C bin 1x1
ZWO Red Filter Optimized for ASI1600: 32x75" (gain: 75.00) -15C bin 1x1
Integration: 32.5 hours
Darks: ~25
Flats: ~25
Flat darks: ~25
Avg. Moon age: 12.85 days
Avg. Moon phase: 27.46%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 7.00
Astrometry.net job: 4106288
RA center: 4h 44' 6"
DEC center: +46° 35' 56"
Pixel scale: 3.158 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 1.259 degrees
Field radius: 2.383 degrees
Resolution: 4395x3194
Data source: Backyard
Sh2-216 Bi-Color with RGB stars. This planetary nebula is very large and very faint! It is also said to be the second closest to the earth.
While capturing this nebula I was not able to really see any noticeable signal. I was doubtful of what the final outcome might be. But, after capturing a good bit of data, stretching the resulting stack really hard, removing the stars, and adding back in RGB stars this was my final result. A little noisy but none the less an image. While looking at this image it reminds me of a jellyfish with no tendrils and to the lower left is a crab creature with two glowing eyes. Maybe I have stared at it too long? LOL!
Overall I think I could have benefited greatly with a narrower band OIII filter and Ha filter. As my current ones are 7nm. Hmmmm... maybe some 3nm filters are in order? Thanks go to Uwe for putting this thought in my head. LOL!
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