2022.10.27 – Soul Nebula
Gear
- Telescope – Meade 70mm Series 6000 Refractor
- Main Camera – ZWO ASI294MC Pro
- Filter – Optolong L-eXtreme Dual-band Filter
- Mount – HEQ5
- Guide Scope – ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope
- Guide Camera – ZWO ASI290MM
- Controller – ZWO ASIAir Plus
Acquisition
- 59 Light Images at 120 gain, 180s exposure
- 10 Dark Images
- 10 Bias Images
- 10 Flat Images
Soul Nebula. SH2-199. LBN 667.
An emission nebula that lies about 7,500 light years away. A close neighbor of the Heart Nebula. If I shoot one I usually shoot the other the next day.
Third time imaging the Soul Nebula. My previous 2 images of this target:
I was able to use 59 of the 60 light images captured. at 3 minute exposure that is only a little under 3 hours. I have seen some shots of the Soul Nebula with some amazing details. Usually those are images at 8+ hours captured. I wish I did a multiple night shooting per target. I think I said that last time that I would start?!? I feel the Soul Nebula requires such amount of time to really capture the most of it. Next time!
Still I got great results in post process. I tried to reduce the stars as much as I was comfortable with. I am starting to also appreciate seeing less stars in astrophotography images. Complete Star-less images look a bit too processed or even fake but also in an odd way kinda cool looking. It definitely helps in bringing the focus on the DSO when reducing the stars.
The main difference in equipment from 2021.11.27 to 2022.10.27 is I used the Optolong L-eXtreme Dual-band filter. I have mainly been using it for most of my 2022 shots. I am really digging the results from using this filter.