Last year, I didn't get a chance to image Thor's Helmet and it was number 1 target for the large scope during the winter season. The midwest wind and weather had their normal way with clouds and not ideal nights for high focal length imaging in my yard. I slowly over several weeks put together enough usable subs, however, I ran into a brick wall.
I could not calibrate out the amp glow from the 294MM with my darks from 4 months prior. So I reshot darks, still no improvement. My flats were calibrating fine, but my darks were failing. All my calibration frames from 135 mm lens, Askar 400, and RASA8 were working just fine. After utilizing several of the ideas to trouble shoot from
@Adam Block studios how to videos in pixinsight, I finally found my problem. I did not realize that both set of darks I had taken using my ASI Air Pro had a default offset at 30, while NINA had default my 294 to an offset of 10. Last night, I reshot the darks using the new offset of 10 and was off to the races.
With calibration issues in the rearview mirror, I was excited to see what my improved editing ability could do with this fascinating target.
I had previously shot it with the same edge 9.25 and my modified Canon T3i. Boy!!!!, I was not disappointed. Thanks to some many fellow astrophotographers, I can really see how far I have come.
NGC 2359, is approximately 15,000 light years away in the Milk Way in the Constellation Canis Major.
The bright Wolf-Rayet Star in the middle of the structure is 280,000 times brighter than our Sun, 16 times more massive, and 1.41 times larger with a surface temperature of 112,000 K (201,140 degrees Fahrenheit.
The sun's surface temp is a meager 5,778 K (9947 degrees Fahrenheit).
The main helmet/bumble is molecular debris that is ionized and shocked by the center bright star. The solar winds measure approximately 1500 m/s.
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