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[Achernar]

While attending the 2024 Deep South Star Gaze, I imaged the California Nebula, also known as NGC-1499. This HaRGB image was stacked from more than four hours of data collected through red, green and blue filters. Each sub-frame was exposed for 60-seconds under much darker skies than I normally have access too. Also included were fifty 300-second sub-frames taken through a 7nm hydrogen alpha filter. An 80mm Astro-Tech EDT apochromatic refractor, ZWO 533MM monochrome camera and Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro equatorial mount were used to acquire the image data. Processing was accomplished with Nebulosity and SIRIL, post processing with Photoshop. I would like to acquire more data, including luminance data given the faintness of this object. The bright star at the left edge of the image is Xi Persei, which is thought to be the main source of illumination for the nebula.

 

Taras

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Edited by Achernar, 03 November 2024 - 10:00 PM.

[Achernar]

I also tried stacking an image with the RGB data alone, and found the image to be successful with the RGB data alone. The Bortle 3 skies definitely made a difference for the better.

 

Taras

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