Here is a 2 panel mosaic in narrowband, but combining Hα and SII emissions, without any OIII collected. This gives it a somewhat non-traditional palette, with a mix that is primarily set as Red - 100% Hα, Green - 100% SII, and Blue - 50% Hα, with then a lot of tweaking in Photoshop and Lightroom. This gives a yellow cast to the combined emission regions with the areas predominated by each filter wavelength showing as red or green. This target could have used an even wider FOV as with this amount of integration there is lots of faint nebulosity that is outside the FOV. But I am ultimately happy with this second mosaic I have ever attempted. More info on this object from Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499/Sh2-220) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California in long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a Hα filter (isolates the Hα line at 656 nm) or Hβ filter (isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.[1] It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, Xi Persei (also known as Menkib, seen at center below it in the inset at right).[2] The California Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 112 x 300 secs (9 hrs 20 mins ) SII: 82 x 300 secs (6 hrs 50 mins) Red: 50 x 30 secs (25 mins) Green: 51 x 30 secs 25 mins 30 secs) Blue: 46 x 30 secs (24 mins 30 secs) 17 hrs 25 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs each, RGB (15 mins total) 10 x 300 secs each, Hα, OIII(1 hr 40 mins total)
Here is a 2 panel mosaic in narrowband, but combining Hα and SII emissions, without any OIII collected. This 2nd mix uses a more traditional palette, with a mix that is primarily set as Red - 100% SII, Green -70% Hα, and no Blue, with then a lot of tweaking in Photoshop and Lightroom. This new mix still gives a yellow cast to the combined emission regions with the areas predominated by each filter wavelength showing as red or green. This target could have used an even wider FOV as with this amount of integration there is lots of faint nebulosity that is outside the FOV. But I am ultimately happy with this second mosaic I have ever attempted. More info on this object from Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499/Sh2-220) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California in long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a Hα filter (isolates the Hα line at 656 nm) or Hβ filter (isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.[1] It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, Xi Persei (also known as Menkib, seen at center below it in the inset at right).[2] The California Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 112 x 300 secs (9 hrs 20 mins ) SII: 82 x 300 secs (6 hrs 50 mins) Red: 50 x 30 secs (25 mins) Green: 51 x 30 secs 25 mins 30 secs) Blue: 46 x 30 secs (24 mins 30 secs) 17 hrs 25 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs each, RGB (15 mins total) 10 x 300 secs each, Hα, OIII(1 hr 40 mins total)
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is a relatively bright nebula in the constellation Auriga with both emission and reflection elements. It is estimated to be approximately 1,500 light years from Earth. This image uses a modified SHO palette in narrowband to represent the nebula, with extra RGB data collection to represent the stars in natural light. It is a first light image for a newly acquired QHY268M camera. Equipment: QHY268M Camera @ -5C and Gain:56 Offset:25 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus LRGB) Askar FMA180 Guidescope/ASI290MM Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC N.I.N.A. Control Software Star XTerminator (Russell Croman) Noise XTerminator (Russell Croman) Light Frames: Ha - 56 x 480 secs ( 7 hrs 28 mins) OIII - 78 x 480 secs (10 hrs 48 mins) SII - 81 x 480 secs (10 hrs and 18 mins) Red: 28 x 30 secs 14 mins) Green: 27 x 30 secs (13 mins 30 secs) Blue: 28 x 30 secs (14 mins) 29 hrs 21 mins 30 secs total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs (5 mins) 10 x 480 secs (1 hr 20 mins) Bias Frames 60 No Flat Frames
