This starless image of The Soul Nebula is work in progress, captured recently from Grand Mesa Observatory’s System 1 using the new QHY600 60 Megapixel Full Frame Monochrome CMOS camera mounted on the Takahashi 130 FSQ that we have the honor of testing for QHYCCD.

I’m not a big fan of starless images as a finished subject however I wanted to show you this as I often make my images starless as part of my post processing routine so as to reduce the star size and create more emphasis on the deep sky object. Up until recently I was using the stand alone version of starnet but now that Pixinsight have integrated it into their own software I find it much less time consuming and easier to use. I was so impressed with the starless image result on the soul nebula that I decided to share it. This orientation reminds me of a map of Australia where I grew up.

Captured over 4 nights in October and November 2020 for a total acquisition time of 20.5 hours.

Technical Details
Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates of Capture October 19, 21, 22, November 11th 2020
HA 560 min 56 x 600 sec
OIII 350 min 35 x 600 sec
SII 320 min 32 x 600 sec
Narrowband Filters by Chroma
Camera: QHY600 Monochrome CMOS Photographic version
Gain 60, Offset 76 in Read Mode Photographic 16 bit
Calibrated with dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Walter Holloway's Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5
Image Scale: 1.19 arcsec/pix
Field of View: 3d 7' 41.0" x 2d 3' 5.3 (127.3 x 190.1 arcmin)
EQ Mount: Paramount ME
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre Processing in Pixinsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC