IC 1396 - Elephant's Trunk Nebula in SHO with Explore Scientific ED102-FCD100 CF (EasyQuest)

IC 1396 - Elephant's Trunk Nebula in SHO with Explore Scientific ED102-FCD100 CF

Comments

This is a reprocess of my second project on the ZWO ASI2600MM Pro. I decided on the Elephant's Trunk Nebula in IC 1396. This is a dem area so I went with 10 minutes exposure to try to pull out the fainter areas. I really wanted more data but working with limit time and weather I was able to pull the most I can with the filters I used. I will return to the same area with better filters I have acquired since this project was completed. Clear skies.

Moon Phase, Location, and Date

Moon Phase For August: 24%%,16%,1%,1% (Mostly or all no moon session.)
Murfreesboro, TN (Bortle 6)
August 03,04,07,09 2021

Equipment

Telescope/Lens: Explore Scientific ED102-FCD100 CF (714 mm at f/7)
Flattener/Reducer: Hotech 2" SCA Self-Centering Field Flattener (Native Focal Length)
Auto Focuser: ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser
Filter: ZWO 7.0nm Narrowband SII - 36mm Unmounted
Filter: ZWO 7.0nm Narrowband HA - 36mm Unmounted
Filter: ZWO 7.0nm Narrowband OIII - 36mm Unmounted
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW (7 x 36mm)
Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro (Rowan Belt Modification for better tracking and autoguiding)
Off-Axis Guider: ZWO OAG
Guider: ZWO ASI120MM-MINI
Dew Heater Controller: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Micro (Clean up Cables)
Dew Heater: Dew Not 6" Dew Heater Strip - DN007
Dew Heater: Dew Not 1" Dew Heater Strip - DN002
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Polar Alignment: QHYCCD Polemaster (Precise polar alignment)
Laptop (For imaging, dither, auto guiding, plate solve)

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

Exposure per Filter: 15 hrs
SII - 30 x 600s (5 hrs)
HA - 30 X 600s (5 hrs)
OIII - 30 x 600s (5 hrs)
Temperature: -5°C on all calibration frames as well as light frames
20 Flats for SII
40 Flats for HA and OIII
20 Darks (Used Master Dark file)
20 Bias (Used Master Bias file)
Gain: 100 (Unity Gain)
Bin: 1x1
Offset: Left Default

Processing in Photoshop and PixInsight

Stacked in DSS
Edited in Photoshop and PixInsight
Manual Gradient Adjustment
Selective Curves Adjustment
Color Correction
Blacks Correction
Light sharpening Applied
RC-Astro GradientXTerminator
RC-Astro StarXTerminator in Photoshop
Adjusted levels
Adjusted Curves
Selective Curves Adjustment
Saturation Balance
Some 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

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5351517
PixInsight job	TKZK8QA6JVFMPNGNL3JXEN8PFF3X64S7
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h34m45s.55
RA (top/left)	21h33m30s.32
RA (top/right)	21h43m01s.59
RA (bottom/right)	21h36m05s.22
RA (bottom/left)	21h26m36s.71

Dec (center)	+57°29′05″.6
Dec (top/left)	+56°21′44″.5
Dec (top/right)	+57°44′14″.2
Dec (bottom/right)	+58°36′23″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+57°11′56″.9

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