Bode's Galaxy, Messier 81, is a beautiful and relatively bright galaxy, oriented for us to appreciate its grand spiral design and wonderfully detailed structure. I would have liked to have gotten much more data, but even with a small amount of frames some detail can be seen. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Celestron EdgeHD 800 8" SCT, with Lepus 0.62x reducer, f/6.2 at 1260mm Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Light Frames: Luminance: 11 x 150 secs (27.5 mins) Red: 6 x 120 secs (12 mins) Green: 5 x 120 secs (10 mins) Blue: 4 x 120 secs (8 mins) Dark Frames: 20 x 120 secs (24 mins) 20 x 150 secs (50 mins) More Details From Wikipedia: Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉[5] supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also make it a popular target for amateur astronomers.[6]
I was able to take a short stack of the Soul Nebula in Ha light for a 1st light image with my newly acquired ZWO ASI-1600MM-C camera. I was quite impressed at the level of detail I was able to capture under light polluted suburban skies with only 28 minutes of total integration. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera (gain: 74, offset: 13) Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Astrodon 5nm Ha filter, 31mm Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Light Frames: 10 x 120 secs (20 mins) 2 x 240 secs ( 8 mins) Dark Frames: 10 x 120 secs (20 mins) 10 x 240 secs (40 mins) Bias Frames: 100 x 0.00032 secs Flat Frames: 10 x 25 secs Located about 6,500 light years away, the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years. Additional info from excerpts about the Soul Nebula from Wikipedia: Westerhout 5 (Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667, Soul Nebula) is an emission nebula located in Cassiopeia. The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848. This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".
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)
