NGC 2237 and NGC 2244 - Rosette Nebula and Open Cluster (EasyQuest)

NGC 2237 and NGC 2244 - Rosette Nebula and Open Cluster

Comments
For this project, this my first light of my recently acquired Astro-Physics 130mm f/6 Starfire EDF and for my first light, I chose the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. I was really lucky to get the scope and have a few days of clears skies to complete this project. I used a Hotech Field Flattener as the official one is being developed and assembled. The final image turn are very very well other than my back spacing was off, I am too close. I will need to add some back spacing on the next project. Also I was shooting this object on another setup with a Full Frame camera...more on that later.

Moon Phase, Location, and Date

Moon Phase in January: 81%, 51%, 40%
Murfreesboro, TN (Bortle 6)
January 22, 25, 26, 2022

Equipment

Telescope/Lens: Astro-Physics 130mm f/6 Starfire EDF (780 mm at f/6)
Flattener/Reducer: Hotech SCA Field Flattener (830mm at f/6.4) (Plate solve shows 830mm instead of 780mm)
Auto Focuser: ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser
Filter: Antlia 3.0nm Narrowband SII - 36mm Unmounted
Filter: Antlia 3.0nm Narrowband HA - 36mm Unmounted
Filter: Antlia 3.0nm Narrowband OIII - 36mm Unmounted
Filter Wheel: QHY 3rd Generation Medium Electronic Filter Wheel - Standard Thickness (36mm Round, 7 Position)
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro
Off-Axis Guider: ZWO OAG
Guider: ZWO ASI120MM-MINI
Dew Heater Controller: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance (Clean up Cables)
Dew Heater: AstroStrap Dew Heater for 6" Telescopes
Camera: QHY 268M
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)
Green Swamp Server (Replaced EQMOD, Remove Hand Controller and allow pulse guiding)
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox (Control the Pocket Powerbox Advance)
Deep Sky Stacker (Stacking Frames)
Photoshop (Processing)
PixInsight (Processing)

Acquisition

Exposure per Filter: 14 Hrs 20 mins
SII - 52 X 300s (4 hrs mins)
HA - 60 X 300s (5 hrs)
OIII - 60 x 300s (5 hrs)
Temperature: -20°C on all calibration frames as well as light frames
20 Flats for SII, HA and OIII
20 Darks (Used Master Dark file)
20 Bias (Used Master Bias file)
Gain: 60
Offset: 50
Bin: 1x1
Pixel Scale: 0.93"/pixel

Processing in Photoshop and PixInsight

Stacked in DSS
Edited in Photoshop and PixInsight
RC-Astro StarXTerminator in Photoshop
Morphological Transformation in PixInsight for star reduction
Star color corrections
Linear Dodge (add) to add back the stars
Manual Gradient Adjustment
Adjusted levels
Adjusted Curves
Selective Curves Adjustment
Color Correction
Blacks Correction
Light sharpening Applied
Light noise reduction on all channels and star layer
Cropped edges for clean look and square cropped for focus on object

	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.	...
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5440666
PixInsight job	PZWNGF08WBX0EP1R0325H1HC04WW2Q82
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	06h31m54s.581
RA (top/left)	06h29m42s.767
RA (top/right)	06h29m48s.174
RA (bottom/right)	06h34m06s.177
RA (bottom/left)	06h34m01s.331

Dec (center)	+04°56′49″.56
Dec (top/left)	+05°44′29″.22
Dec (top/right)	+04°08′16″.66
Dec (bottom/right)	+04°09′06″.35
Dec (bottom/left)	+05°45′20″.25

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